Five old pear trees mourn on the west wind
Blowing in through the Golden Gate
Waiting now by a vanished mission
Where the years accumulate.
Silence keeps the long-watch by them.
Evening’s lavender notes expire,
Letting the broken shards of sunset
Fall about the sinking fire.
Where the Spanish fathers gathered,
Worshipping God and crucifix,
Never more their passion rises
Over the tallow’s flaming wicks.
Never canticle from cloister,
Never chant of neophyte –
Only five old pear trees praying
At the sacrament of night.
Not a brick of old adobe,
Not a vesper, not a bell,
Never more the Ave Maria
By the Mission San Rafael.
(Gordon W Norris)
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Based on Topics: Night Poems, Fire Poems, Silence Poems, Worship PoemsBased on Keywords: accumulate, canticle, adobe, rafael, neophyte