"Well, I'm back," as Sam said at the end of the Lord of the Rings. In the past couple of months we've been nomads, staying for a while with cousins and, in my case, visiting a friend of the family in New York for two weeks. Now I am back at college, comfortably settled in my new apartment with the Devil's Advocate, and classes are already started and going quite well; and the family is preparing to make the final move.
During my visit to New York I was told to look out for the statue of Atlas at the Rockefeller Center, bowing before the Blessed Sacrament he faces through the doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral. I went, therefore, and admired both church and statue; and a while later this sonnet began to take shape, though it has undergone many revisions since.
Atlas
I walked on broad Fifth Avenue one day
And saw a towering form, a Titan tall,
Holding on high the heavens' heavy ball -
Of strength unequaled such a grand display,
I stood and stared. His bending knee I saw -
Bent, though, in reverence, rather than a fall;
What reverence moved this mightiest man of all,
Bearing the heavens, thus to bow in awe?
Across the avenue I traced his gaze,
Past two proud portals, down high halls of stone
By incense dimmed, aglow with candles' rays,
And in the monstrance bright, a sun ablaze -
The One whom Atlas humbly knelt to own,
And whom all creatures even so must praise!
19 comments
It's not precisely bowing, but it's a good way to see it. You are an incurable dreamer. All I can think seeing it is "I'm Nelson and I go to throw this ball away and crash you!!", what is probably what he thought when asked for it.
Ha ha, Glo-ness... well, you should still write about St. Marys, we'd all love to see it. And yeah, it's pretty cool.
Flia-de-E non-autentica: it does look like it, a little bit; and yes, I am an incurable dreamer, but I'm proud of it! :)
wow...... another De-Erausquin... Agnes who is this....?
I LOVE the poem!
Ines, all true dreamers are incurable... dreams are the only thing keeping us sane.
Amen, Tom! You and I who are poets understand each other!
This de Erausquin is Dad's baby brother. He says that his family is "the REAL de Erausquin family". (We let him think that.)
Oh, and thanks... I meant to write that and forgot... :)
While I admire your poetic abilities, I can not think that the statue of Atlas, which was placed in 1937 in front of Rockefeller Center and which found that home 59 years after St. Patrick's Cathedral was built, was placed on 'bended' knee out of an even imagined respect for the Blessed Sacrament.
The only work in which Lee Lawrie found commissioning for the Catholic Church was in Washington D.C.--the shrine to the Immaculate Conception. Much of his work was civil or for the Episcopalian church.
I loved the poem--if it were only true.
Providence?
Yeah, Providence. I second that opinion....
I think we can all agree, what with the liberals being in control for however long, that Atlas wasn't put there on purpose to adore Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. But who cares? That's a side issue-the point is, is that Atlas DOES look like he's bowing to Our Lord. So it's funny how things end up....who cares if it wasn't done on purpose-God obviously got the last laugh.
And props to Ines for pointing it out-she recognized a "secret victory". Mwahaha...
Hey, I didn't say it was intentional... but it's so. So here's with you, Glo.
Exactly: God may intend something beyond the intentions of merely human actors.
Blessed Sunday, btw!
Oh, and to those who are crediting me with the idea, I regret to say it isn't entirely mine; my hostess in New York told me she had noticed that and to go have a look. Credit where credit is due. :)
Meaning you checked and saw it was so.
Bad journalism? I do no think so.
Who called it bad journalism? :)
None. I call it very good journalism: the kind Chesterton would have enjoyed.
Sorry for the roundabout way of putting it.
First two words that popped up in my head, maybe I am under some curse, but anyway I do not call it bad journalism, but very good one.
Thank you very much!
Merci bien, Crusader! I was hoping you'd let me know what you thought; I'm glad you liked it.