What is real?
What is beauty?
Be greeted by the songs
of birds sounding from
fragrant recesses and
purling rills of water
descending in narrow
channels beside
stone stairs you ascend.
Flanked by stately cyprus
candelabra and expanses
of emerald green slopes,
encounter fountains shimmering
in their pools,
curved stone balustrades,
the verdancy of palms.
Past purple jackaranda,
trailing bougainvillea,
venerable old olive,
red roses, you tread.
The varied pathways
make you hear your
own footsteps augmenting
awareness of holy environs,
skirting on the edge of mysteries.
Statues of victorious eagles
direct your gaze outward,
from the heights, across
the Bay of Haifa
to the Door of Hope.
Turning upward, sight
the exquisite Shrine,
the Queen of Carmel,
standing domed and pillared,
the focus of forces
of divine civilization -
the center of these gardens.
The orisons of Zion
swell from hearts within;
the orange trees outside
bear fruit
glowing in the sun.
Tears of joy and burdens are shed
behind rich wooden doors.
Wonder throbs in
an atmosphere of
awe emitting from
sweet-scented Threshold.
Communion of souls
gives birth
to sacrifice and meaning,
directions sensed for future grasp.
Walk from prayers with
reverence as a pilgrim
from the terraces to a far-
flung arc. Faces
beam and breaths are
held beholding archives of
sacred relics and resting
places radiant with luminous light.
Here monuments of
living knowledge and justice
and love are housed
in white marble. Along
this horizon gleams
the promise of
peace, a noble caring
for the family of nations,
a cherished gift
for future generations.
This celestial vision is more
than a treasure
of thought or a spirit
yearning for unity.
Attain your heart’s
longing – the end of one journey,
the beginning of another.
It is real.
It is beauty.
Copyright © 2004 by Paul Mantle
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