I close the guidebook, tuck it under an arm,
face St Mark’s Basilica, believing our ancestors
generated faith through Art. Everywhere I look,
details of the facade glint sunlight off layers
of white marble. I stare at the domes made
of wood covered with lead. Five hundred
capitals and columns reach for the truth
of Heaven. The guidebook says this golden
cathedral houses the body of Saint Mark
the apostle brought from Alexandria and
after whom the city is named. It’s here
that the world stays old. It wouldn’t surprise
me, in this sacred atmosphere, to see angels
glide overhead through the drowsy afternoon.
The chandelier of sun dangles from sky’s ceiling.
I wipe sweat from July heat off the back of my neck.
Yesterday I toured the inside of the Basilica.
Today, I simply want to gawk at the brocade
of masonry, facets of imagination and engineering
that exude holiness. Several tour buses interrupt
my meditation, and I watch sightseers, backpackers
deboard in search of beauty. They, too, gape
at the glorious structure, the obsession of so many
workman’s hands. They’ve come like paupers
expecting to be enriched by standing in proximity
to something majestic, something as
celestial as a city of saints.
R. Nikolas Macioci earned a PhD from The Ohio State University, taught for Columbus City Schools for thirty years. OCTELA, the Ohio Council of Teachers of English, named Nik Macioci the best secondary English teacher in the state of Ohio. Nik is the author of nineteen books.
