Stain of Light

Shattered shards of fractured light that I am,
I illuminated sacred text, shone
on the faces of the congregation,
presented Christ arisen to the world,
fragile and invincible, set aloft,
a witness, a light to lighten gentiles,
the pride of Christendom. I held the sun
close in my leaden heart; the Son, Kyrie, eleison.

There is no mercy in time’s sacrilege.
Centuries ground to fusty pews,
degraded mortar, silent hymns, prayers
all forgotten, past.

Lord have mercy on this relic of glass
only begotten of the minds of men
and fashioned by faith.