Looking Skyward in the Pantheon

You never took it for granted,

the Rotunda—no matter that you passed it

daily on your way to Mincer’s Pipe Shop

or the University Diner for grilleds and ice cream—

no matter that you and the Team once

suspended a garbage can and blue flag

flaunting a giant brassiere

atop the flagpole just in front—

no matter that you and Henry Taylor

explored its innards at 2:00 A.M.

through passages long since locked— 

once standing beneath that awesome dome

you felt yourself in sacred space.

And now, walking into the Pantheon,

you feel that familiar weight, and more.

Even without a guidebook, you see

the perfect symmetry of the dome

above the cube—sense the lunar cycle

of the twenty-eight coffers

in each row—find yourself in the path

of the god’s eye centered above you,

even after eighteen centuries

still unwindowed and open to the rain.

What manner of worship or sacrifice

took place here, you do not know,

but your heart bypasses all doubts

and mysteries. A-tremble

beneath this manmade sky, you find yourself

going to your knees, no matter 

what god puts you there.

© David Black, 2014

The Rotunda at UVA
Photo posted on Flickr, modified by Ben Lunsford
Wikimedia Commons