Song in the Citadel

 

 

Cathedral like these portals vast
Vaulting high in concrete grey
From echoed bowels of poets walk
Through Pier Five’s companionway.
From high above the tidal flow.
Obscured by sheets of misty rain
Dull Hazards flash in red and green
With foghorn, distant, in refrain.

And from the darkened vault ahead
A plaintive note of tenor called
From one who sings in tones of gold
In breathless awe I stand enthralled.
In majesty the sad notes soar
Through vaulting halls of catacomb
I catch my breath and bite my hand
And stand in wonderment, alone.

Emotion rises in my breast
A stifled sob from falling tears,
Magnificence is in the air
Invoked, an unsought anguish nears.
I know, with certainty, that this
Magnificence of circumstance
Alone with God, in my lifetime
Shall not occur again, perchance.

Silence in a velvet hush
Descends, as if a curtain fall.
Carefully I steal away
Lest I betray the saddened pall.
Betray the solitary quiet
In recollection’s stark entrance,
I know I shan’t again witness
Such song in wondrous circumstance.


Marshalg
Pier 5
Manukau Harbour Crossing
June 2008

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