La Sagrada Familia,
Barcelona’s stunning basilica.
Antoni Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece.
Mesmerized, we walk in quietly.
Step ever so slowly between
thirty-six supporting stone columns.
Like mighty Redwoods
they tower silently overhead.
Sprout branches arching higher and higher.
Artistically created moldings crown them,
some crowded, some overlapping like leaves.
Sunlight streams between and through them,
as if in a forest’s royal canopy.
We marvel at the sun captured within this space.
Its glow. Its mystical aura.
How can one man dream so big?
Dead decades before its completion,
his body lies within a crypt below.
Surely his soul lives and revels there.
Uplifted, if somewhat humbly,
witnessing others fulfill his dream.
For here we stand,
above where his body sleeps.
And this place is magnificent.
Written for Tuesday Poetics at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today Dora asks us to write a poem that includes at least one simile. A simile is a comparison of two unlike objects using the word “like” or “as”.
Images taken at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona this past November.
La Sagrada Familia is a Catholic basilica in Barcelona, Spain. It is the unfinished masterpiece of architect Antoni Gaudi, although it is predicted to be finished by end of 2026. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was begun in 1882 by architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. After he resigned from the project in 1883, Gaudi took over as Chief Architect. Gaudi died in 1926 and is buried in the basilica’s crypt. The basilica opened on November 7, 2010 and was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI. Stained glass windows on the East side emit cool colors of blue and green. Windows on the West side stream in warm colors in hues of red, yellows and oranges.
In a word, La Sagrada Familia is magnificent.
lillian the home poet 
Spectacular nice !
LikeLike
Gorgeous, Lillian, the poem, the photos. Seeing the cathedral through your eyes I got a sense of its magnificence, its ambitious architect’s design and posthumous accomplishment. And the simile couldn’t be more perfect about the effect of the columns:
“Sunlight streams between and through them,
as if in a forest’s royal canopy.”
How wonderful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A stunning basilica indeed, Lill, and thank you for taking me there with your poem. I love the comparison of the supporting stone columns with mighty Redwoods. You ask the question, ‘How can one man dream so big?’ It’s the stonemasons, carpenters and stained-glass window makers that I wonder about.
LikeLike
Magnificent, indeed! You have captured such beauty in the spirit of the builder and the creation.
LikeLike
Despite having been to Barcelona a few times I never got there…. maybe something to plan for, love your description…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lillian, if ever there was evidence of extraterrestrial life, Gaudi’s design is it. Wonderful you were able to go inside. Barcelona is on my bucket list.
LikeLike
gorgeous photos. Phenomenal poetry. Thanks for sharing
LikeLike
Beautiful, Lill. The comparison of the columns to redwoods seems apt, especially with that golden light streaming on them.
LikeLike
Beautiful poem, Lillian!
Yvette M Calleiro :-)http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
LikeLike
A beautiful tribute to a wonderful cathedral, Lillian. That is an amazing structure. This is a great lesson in life, we dream big, sometimes die before we can achieve them all and our children carry on where we left off!
LikeLike
A stunning building and poem…a tribute to man’s creativity which definitively gives glory to God! Would love to visit such a place. Thanks for sharing, Lillian!
LikeLike