Hallstatt

Inside the Catholic Beinhaus, Hallstatt, Austria, June 2010

The bleached and hand-painted skulls
that look down on ancient Hallstatt
from the Roman Catholic Beinhaus
do so with an arrogance
and self-awareness
only death can provide--

They know Lake Hallstatt gives life to their village
so that light followed by darkness followed by light again
can take it away

They know the Celts preserved sacred blue memories
with white gold from the mountains above their town,
memories that became decorated bones for strange places

And they know that waterfalls and salt mines and fresh whitefish,
pagan jewelry, Christian altars, and emperors and tourists,
mean everything and mean nothing without contradiction

Because the bleached and hand-painted skulls
that look down on ancient Hallstatt
from the Roman Catholic Beinhaus
do so with an arrogance
and self-awareness
only death can provide

Unpublished, 2010

Gio reads "Hallstatt" on YouTube