GALLERY

Fulfilled in every granite fold
and grace, a stone gesture
leans intricately
to suggest praise
of the delicate basilica
soaring overhead, its sky-blue
marble fitted exactly
to ambition.
                       Consider:
the frescoed clouds,
the plaster garlands,
the sword unsheathed,
the air which resists completion,
the fixed ascension,
the layers of varnish,
the layers and layers of antique sleep,
the future pretending to wait,
the imminent revelation and
the child's long shadow
in the empty city.