David Rachlin 
USA

San Xavier del Bac
For my Father

I can only imagine what it must have been like
the first time Fray Kino
rode onto this wide stretch of land 
of the Tohono O’odham on horseback,
his wide-brimmed hat swaying in the wave of heat
perhaps even near fainting from lack of water
covered from head to foot in monk robes
and deciding this would be a place to stop
and deciding this would be the place to build a church
at this riverbed where water seemed to bubble up from below

But you rode up in the cool air of a rented car
in chinos and a plaid sports shirt
camera in hand and no religion in mind
save that of the artist
watching, watching each detail for inspiration
to transform those ochers, blues and whites
into the gray scale light of your darkroom
where you, Father, brought its mysteries back home
squared off on thin paper,
framed and behind glass

What was it that made you photograph this cathedral?
Was it the cracked frescos or adobe courtyard
or the makeshift border between sacred and desert
offered up each day in the long dust angle of light

or was it the tall shadows on the gleaming sunstroke white
of the dove’s façade 
or its interrupted symmetry heading for heaven?

Copyright, David Rachlin.
All rights reserved by author.