CHARTRES

CHARTRES
The glory of God’s gospel glows with light;
Pilgrim sees growing from green on the ground
A tall temple of stone hewn high on a mound.
Her sculptured craft astounds his purblind sight,
He falls down, surrendered, with all of his might.
He’s awed by the magical joy of her sound.
Angels chant psalms, stained windows shine bright.
It’s New Jerusalem, a City of God refound.
Each niche tells a legend set in tinted glass,
Radiant rainbow hue, sparkling like dew,
The inward mind knows her message is true.
Pilgrim feels healed by the visions that pass.
His Soul wakes up, no beam blurs his eye,
Heart’s upraised by her spires, high in the sky.

Her steeples aspire like arrows aimed at God;
Prayers assault her vaults, and heaven’s sought.
The soul’s inflamed to blaze in its earthy clod
By Saints, who from her oaken pulpit taught.
A medieval miracle, fair marvel, to behold!
Amazed by the maze on her limestone floor,
Many parables her painted panes unfold,
We stand in awe before her portal door.
To calmly comprehend the art of Chartres,
Where cryptic Christian chrisms are unveiled.
Start to chart her craft with all your heart.
In masterly masonry, much is revealed.
Her stained glass windows glow like precious gems,
Showing celestial scenes from which truth doth stem.

Ah Chartres! ‘mystere merveille’, enigmatic book
Of God’s creation, you’re an emblematic sign.
Architectonic is your binding, majestic, divine
Your pages etched on alchemic glass. So look
For graven keys in carved and buttressed nook.
Christ points the way the saints and martyrs took,
There were miracles, wan water turned to wine.
On slabs of limestone lies a cryptic maze,
Soul’s riddle, a puzzle in which she’s caught.
Once dancing here, a Templar Master taught
His masons, the measured steps to freedom’s ways.
In Chartre’s stone arches, clues are given,
Sacred tunes for hymns, wend their way to heaven.

Dig down deeply, dive into Self and find
The Chartres Cathedral in your inner heart,
The real temple bides behind the mind.
Stab the stoney slabs of sleep, and start
To plunge within the cloistered well, hold breath
In the sanctum sanctorum in the west transept.
Mind, seeking outwards, may lead to death.
Seek God within, be templared and adept.
Notre Dame de Chartres mirrors the One inside,
Self projects her shrine on a plastered wall;
The Light Of The World behind the door, doth hide.
So step beyond the Gothic shades, uncover all!
The Kingdom Of heaven shines within, not out,
Real Chartres waits in your heart, so turn about.