More realistic than the airstream Christ
Above the Bay at Rio, Christus here,
As if he stepped out of a Zurbarán
Into a constant Force Six wind, allows
The loose bronze of his robe to billow. Placed
Exactly on the border as an end
To border wars, the statue mans the pass
Not as a symbol but as sentinel.
Above the timberline of wood for rood,
In thinner air than prayer can carry in,
At altitude beyond the reach of faith,
Its lilies in the breath of worshipers,
That staring image on its arid slope
Brings into mind embodied Easter less
Than Easter Island. Not incongruous,
Entirely, thought of distance and of surf,
And warring Polynesia’s farthest reach:
Outrigger voyages and certain pots,
The stars as sure as any Magi had.
Who said to fishers “I shall make of you
Fishers of men,” Whose Father worked in clay,
They neither of them would have let it go
At that, aware sea-level fosters life,
And navigation brings in more than nets.
Christ of the Andes
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