Gaia
Worshipping the Earth Goddess, Gaia,
before the great altar in Santo Domingo
If the goddess is not carried in your heart
like a warm loaf in a paper bag beneath your shirt
you will never discover her hiding place.
She does not sip ambrosia from these golden flowers,
nor does she climb this vine
to mount to her heavenly throne,
nor does she recline in majesty
a pantocrator in a mandala frowning down.
In spite of the sunshine trapped in all this gold
the church is cold and overwhelming.
Tourists come with cameras
not the people with their prayers.
My only warmth and comfort:
not in this god who bids the lily gilded
but in that quieter voice that speaks within me,
bringing me light amidst all this darkness,
bringing me poverty amidst all this gold.
rogermoorepoet 
I like those tourists, not getting it at all!
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“Never let your braces dangle.” Braces are suspenders in Wales!
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I gave the wrong comment to the wrong poem: I thought you meant the tourists who had their camera straps stolen … to hold up the witch doctor’s trousers. Sorry. Totally out of synch here … must be the mescal …
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bringing me light amidst all this darkness,
bringing me poverty amidst all this gold.
Beautiful, Roger. I love the contrast between the outer (tourist destination) and the inner (real inspiration).
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Thank you, Tanya. Much debate about this church: a treasure of humanity with something like 6 tons of gold leaf inside the church. However, rumor has it that it was built by ‘slave labor”, though the church denies this, and many of the indigenous will not go in there. Like all (well, many of the churches in which I have found myself) of the Mexican churches, it is built like a fortress and is quite dark inside. Glad you like it. I have become very fond of Gaia.
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Love the comparison of warm bread beneath your shirt to carrying the goddess in your heart. This really puts you in the mind of the native among the interloper. The God who brought gold and yet left the people impoverished. How could one love this god? But only fear him?
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G-G-G = Glory, God, and Gold … not necessarily in that order. I have had some very interesting discussions with oaxaquenos on these very subjects. The old calendar is still in place and used in some regions and the witch doctor still burns incense on the church steps, well, he did ten or so years ago. I was amazed at how the social context had shaped the usage of the Spanish language in Oaxaca. It came as quite a shock to me.
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Really? How so?
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Oh dear, that’s a subject for a book or a doctoral thesis. Two Belgian beer and a long conversation would do, much less academic. At the social level it deals with the relationship between conquerors and conquered and how that shapes the invading language from the conquerors by the conquered. Fascinating.
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That is fascinating. I’ll buy you those beers sometime!
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