A Wooden Cross Can Bear the Flames
A tribute to the First Baptist Church of Dripping Springs, TX, mysteriously consumed by fire on Sept. 5, 2007.
Empty pews, one piano,
sheet music and psalms,
roof rafters and roofing --
each wafted, along
with black smoke, to the blue
skies which hovered above.
Come, sift through the ashes now.
Learn about love.
See the church which belongs now
to heavens once lit
with the flames that consumed
nearly each bit of it –
all but its wood cross,
which by heat was not doomed!
Love's message stands still,
just as when it first bloomed.
Nancy Fierstien hosts “Thirsty Thursday”, a monthly venue open to poets, musicians and storytellers under her leadership since 2007. She is the editor of two Best Austin Poetry collections published by the Austin Poetry Society. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work often appears in Texas Poetry Calendars and in anthologies by the Austin International Poetry Festival.
Empty pews, one piano,
sheet music and psalms,
roof rafters and roofing --
each wafted, along
with black smoke, to the blue
skies which hovered above.
Come, sift through the ashes now.
Learn about love.
See the church which belongs now
to heavens once lit
with the flames that consumed
nearly each bit of it –
all but its wood cross,
which by heat was not doomed!
Love's message stands still,
just as when it first bloomed.
Nancy Fierstien hosts “Thirsty Thursday”, a monthly venue open to poets, musicians and storytellers under her leadership since 2007. She is the editor of two Best Austin Poetry collections published by the Austin Poetry Society. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work often appears in Texas Poetry Calendars and in anthologies by the Austin International Poetry Festival.
