Notre Dame

Most Blessed Lady,
Glorious Soul;
more steadfast
than stone.

Tabernacle none may own;
with clarity and colour
which does surpass
all form; architecture,
art, marble, and glass.

A cry rises up from earth
as smoke billows from fire.
Our hearts, ashen, collapsed;

cruelly consumed
as wood of roof and spire.

Grief and shock descend;
a dark and bitter surprise.
Perhaps the world
till now did not realize
this has not been a mere
structure; a building
like any other, but
a potent symbol
of how desperately
this wounded world
needs You~
O Notre Dame;
Our Mother.