ruined abbey

When we met,
it was as if a door suddenly blew open
and you were standing there,
a stranger with rain on your shoulders.
And now we are walking together,
the backs of our hands touching,
in the abbey grounds.

The sun shines intermittently on us
as we peer through grills
into the shattered centre of the church,
of a long-gone community of men
who built all this to demonstrate
the enduring love of God.

When I spend considering time alone,
it seems that nothing
man-made and beautiful
can last forever;
but then I think perhaps
eight hundred years would do.

© James Nash, Coma Songs [2003, 2006]