Trees and Cathedrals
From North Devon John Saban writes:‘Now old and in fragile health, I sometimes walk my dog in neighbouring woodland where I have been reflecting on recurring dreams in which I explore empty dark cathedrals, to find them full only of ... atmosphere.’
Significance in Shadows
Deep in that forest, hints of incense breathed And dappled leafy light like candles seemed To pattern tree trunk pillars that were wreathed With stained glass tinted ivy, colours gleamed On gnarled and gothic tree root stairs that led To rustic altars to dead gods like Pan. That holiness so potent is it dead Or just too inconvenient for Man? A numinous still lingers in that wood As in those dream cathedrals where I sought A Presence there, half seen, half understood, Significance in shadows – so I thought. Was it just wish fulfilment’s old appeal Or could that age-old myth be somehow real?
John Saban is an ex-RAF Wing Commander, ex-Anglican Diocesan Lay Reader, Buddhist (once active in the London Buddhist Society) and Universalist Quaker.
‘I am half sick of shadows,’ said The Lady of Shalott. Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott