Bristol Byzantine by Yvonne Aburrow
Transcendent lightness of space,
expanding from detail of architecture,
glittering tile and sculpted form.
When the wind changes direction
the sky's mood is darkened
and faces leer in hidden squalor.
And again with the cry of a gull,
or glimpse of column striving heavenward
the heart is lifted with the eye -
turns outward, following the play of light
on water, sun broken into moving tesserae
bringing the endless sea inland.
The buildings climb out of the harbour
a northern Ca' d'Oro stranded on the hill,
hidden fragments of Byzantium in the rain-darkened streets
smeared by the grimy fingers of industry,
crumbling in the rain, but suffused
with light trapped in their very fabric.