by Dane Karnick

On the backroads of Alberta
She rises steeple high
Amidst ploughed acres 
Her stained-glass windows

Welcome the faithful 
Through ignored decades 
As ceiling panels detach
Across the pew rows

Where believers sang
Toward the cross still upright
Draped by a white shawl
Dirty from absent hands

While that crown of thorns
Insists on its sharp torture
His died and risen holiness
Waiting for faces to return

In the melancholy breeze
Tickling the arched roof
How many winters before
Collapse chants a new verse

As an angel stands guard
By the headstones waiting
For the Anointed One
To ring the loud belfry

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Dane Karnick grew up by the Colorado “Rockies” and lives in Treasure Valley, Idaho. His poetry has appeared in such publications as One Art and El Portal.