Madonna and Child – a poem by Jeff Skinner

Madonna and Child

Travellers come and go 
light candles   wonder why  

white slips of paper
that might otherwise fly away 

are posted by the chapel gate
people asking for help

offering thanks
Two thousand years of welcome 

pilgrims   drifters
lovers long ago in Rome

those who want to be quiet 
or to talk 

welcome –
resting here    gazing towards

the east window    
figuring how we are lit

blue on blue
from within and without

                 Lady Chapel, Exeter Cathedral

Jeff Skinner’s poems have been published in anthologies and in many journals, recently or forthcoming in Allegro, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Paperboats. He was commended in the last Sonnet or Not competition. He volunteers at his local food bank and in an Oxfam bookshop, listens to music, watches football, reads, writes.