Beckoning - Brief Article - Poem

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 3, 1999 by Stella Nesanovich

   We sit in a cafe early evening
   having crossed the Rhine twice today
   and lingered under the arched ceiling
   of Cologne Cathedral
   echoing prayers of early saints.
   Before us rise the towers
   sullied since the Middle Ages, blackened
   with the smoke of World War II.

   Blocks away lie other churches
   still hollow from shelling.
   Cultural matrix, this cathedral
   the Allies spared, its notched spires
   long flues to heaven.
   Sunset, bronze bars the river.
   Steamers stitch an uphill journey.
   The cathedral, brilliant changeling,
   beckons us into her folds.

-- Stella Nesanovich Lake Charles, La.