Cathedral of the Prairie

               St. Anthony of Padua, Hoven, South Dakota

          I’ve come to the Cathedral of the Prairie,

           the work of Anton Zwack and Anton Dohmen,

          but first I wander through the cemetery

         where farmers sleep, and almost like an omen

          a dove bursts from a spruce tree. Holy Spirit,

        inspire my reading. Wake the dead to hear it.

      Behind the graves a field of waving barley

    bearded and golden, whispers when the wind blows,

   a perfect crop where spirits come to parley,

 to watch great-grandsons lay it down in windrows.

   Most of the men who built this church were German—

     Otto and Sigmund, Wilhelm, Helmut, Herman—

       but here’s a Timothy, and there’s a Kevin

        and twin spires reaching achingly toward Heaven.




                                                   Tim Murphy  (north dakotah poet)







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