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The Angelic Temple Of Deliverance,
Corner of Washington & Kingshighway

Eye climbs precariously along the
near sheer sand colored face of this 
manmade cliff, seeking purchase in
 
shallow joints and the edges of deep
blue and green stained glass windows 
that glisten like ice floes; granted
 
I have never been to Egypt or Rome,
I have seen Cecil B. De Mille's 
"The Ten Commandments" almost every 
 
Easter I can remember, and I do live 
near downtown, so I have enough edifice 
ennui to temper my enthusiasm; still
 
there is something about this ANGELIC 
TEMPLE OF DELIVERANCE that challenges 
me to journey, driving an occasional 
 
contemplative piton before moving on; 
until, near the top, I pause to consider 
whether within this vaulted cavern could 
 
angels not only fly unimpeded-those big 
wings and big hair, you know-but actually 
enjoy a game of celestial volleyball when 
 
along the periphery of vision something
distracts my whimsy; upon an errant breeze 
sometime a seed must have hitched a ride and, 
 
though spindly, the offspring towers over 
its parental foliage; roots web across the 
sere blocks, seeking what nourishment can 
 
be found for a trunk no larger than a medium 
sized limb; no birds nest there, too fragile 
I suppose, yet still that it is here at all, 
 
growing out of a cornice, seems fitting; as 
I rappel streetward, I wonder if it's perhaps 
a bush, not a tree, or maybe an echo of laughter.

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