A chapel now dedicated to Christ the Servant
Daylight from two slit windows falls
on the cross above the altar, casts
that familiar double shadow, and there
it is again – the shape of my calling.
How brief these moments are
and how enduring, under the waggon roof
of a chapel whose original dedication
was lost in the Blitz, under these
eleven curved medieval beams,
some carved into rainbows. Eleven,
they say, to record Judas’s betrayal –
or, I prefer to believe, to create a place
for any one of us who might choose
to re-dedicate their bombed-out life.
Helen Evans is a poet and creative writing tutor published by HappenStance Press (Only by Flying, 2015, shortlisted for the Callum McDonald Memorial Award) and Mariscat Press (in Mariscat Sampler One 2024). Website at http://www.helenevans.co.uk and intermittent social media posts on Bluesky at @helen-evans.bsky.social
Amethyst Review 