God's Grotto
inspired by the ave maria grotto in cullman, alabama
this land
of little jerusalem
tucked away in stone,
built wholly
from the ordinary —
marbles & shells & shards
of broken plate, marbles &
beads & the shine of jewelry
catching in the midday sun.
each of them glint
among the blooming azaleas
& the winding pathways,
a reminder of how heaven
in the corner of the south
was built by a single monk,
who now quietly exists as
a replica among the others,
a rendition of the man that shoveled coal
& used those same hands to construct holiness,
standing as a testament of faith,
that there is something
divine
in
the human imagination.
of little jerusalem
tucked away in stone,
built wholly
from the ordinary —
marbles & shells & shards
of broken plate, marbles &
beads & the shine of jewelry
catching in the midday sun.
each of them glint
among the blooming azaleas
& the winding pathways,
a reminder of how heaven
in the corner of the south
was built by a single monk,
who now quietly exists as
a replica among the others,
a rendition of the man that shoveled coal
& used those same hands to construct holiness,
standing as a testament of faith,
that there is something
divine
in
the human imagination.