shrouded in naked silence
Van Eyck’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb
scarcely attracts a visitor
at the Museum of Fine Art

a mile away a heaving throng
gawps at leftover Christmas trinkets
purveyed from converted garden sheds
nestled between medieval churches

tourists step into these religious bulwarks
to gaze at a former world
oblivious to a faithful few
who gather seeking the divine

outside
the masses instinctively congregate
and process fitfully through ware-laden streets
in a carnival without effigies or masks

© Dave Thomas 2015