The Tower

Beyond the trail of thunderclouds there lies
Sequestered in the fabric of the skies
A gothic tower rising in the spray
From waterfalls where shifting faint bouquets
Of rainbows flicker in a phantom garden
Kept by the dreams who're still undreamed and virgin.
Five smaller roofs sit round the central tower
And tend the buttresses and arches over
The heavy portals carved with mysteries
Which stand as guardians round the ancient boundaries.
The basin where it stands is deep and wide
And though the water rushes down the sides
It never fills nor stirs the watery floor
That glistens in the moon light like a mirror.
Above the chancel windows and the gargoyles
With zodiac figures in the limestone coils
The stone is mixed with tamed translucent fire
Like favrile tiffany glass forming the spire.
The spiral staircase rising through the middle
Of the tower ends just at this level;
If one should wish to rise then he must pass
Through living abstract patterns in the glass.
The realms beyond and all of hidden creation
Is there in maps breathed by imagination.

Santiago del Dardano Turann

Archived 08/15/2010