"in seperate pieces #1: a temple i see on a distant hill"

by Patrick Scaffido

there is a temple on a hill
in plain view of all.
some don't look.
some look once and then away.
some try to approach but some thing in the 
                         back of their
                         mind warns
                         them away from
                         this haunted   
                         ruin.
some come to the door and 
                 do not find the 
                 courage to open it.
some open the door but go no further.
some come in and look around then leave.
some come and sit down on one of the various chairs.
some stay for ages.
some don't.
it makes no difference to the temple really.
it has been there so long, and will 
vanish far in the future
some kneel in it and pray.
some see it as a place of communication
      between here and somewhere else.
some see it as a healing place.
some see it as a respite from the
                outside world.
a place of truth, a place of wisdom
a magical relic for another time
some conjecturs. some guesses.
they mean nothing to the place.
it may be all of this and more at times
but it is none of these.
it reveals itself in full
to every wandering soul
they see no more than what they 
               will.
they protect the temple and make it sacred.
they protect it from themselves.
if they harm it, they hurt themselves
   without even knowing why.
no one will take more than they want/need
 without self-immolation/retribution.
scholars say this is a strange property 
         of this mysterious building
scientists diagree and say its all in their heads
but all/none of this matters to the temple
    it sits there and others make of it
       what they will
if it exists it is.
that's all.

c. 1997