FRANSUM CHAPEL Poem by Cornelius Onno Jellema

Is god still there, tiny sarcophagus
of faith, as empty
as the Doric temples of Paestum:
their columns a haven for other birds
than gods - if I ask for him?

Little mummy of stone
with no heart, tabernacle
with no place for a candle, do you protect
our landscape with you body
as a bed for heaven? I'm just asking.

Silent sound box for outside, for godwits
in June, the lowing cows by the gate -
closed in on yourself, one evening, I sit in the grass
among your tombs, you're loveliest thus:
closed, the shrine to the answer not given.