A Variation on Prayer
– Nonfiction by Linda Campbell –
Leaving the gray, bleak evening behind, we enter the massive gothic splendor of stone, stained glass, gilded walls and fluted columns. The dim Basilica traps the scent of November in Montreal, damp wool and rotting leaves, and mixes them with a hint of incense. I find myself genuflecting by rote, a byproduct of a Catholic childhood, before I sit on the carved wooden pew beside my mother.
She won’t remember this evening but she is delighted to be here. Her dementia has stolen her short-term memory but if this were mass, she’d follow along perfectly. Perhaps I could too.
The show begins, a booming symphony of timeless sound that fills not just the cavernous room, but the spaces between the cells of my body – I feel the sound reverberating there. Choreographed light dances in time with the music, creating art that claims the walls and ceiling as its canvas, caressing every line, angle, and corner.
Something inside of me is singing. I am immersed, I can’t tell where it begins and I stop. Now I am made of music and light. I wonder if she feels the same. I lean into her and our eyes meet, she smiles wisely and nods. I squeeze her hand. I will remember this for both of us, this variation on prayer.
About the Author – Linda Campbell
Linda Campbell is a tech exec turned writer and cartoonist. Her writing has appeared in the Snapdragon Journal, Change Seven Magazine, was a finalist in the WOW-Women on Writing’s Fall 2020 CNF contest, and is forthcoming in Broad River Review. Her drawings have been published in FIGS Zine, Spring 2020 and Fall 2021 editions. Linda is a transplanted Canadian who currently calls San Francisco home. Her art can be found on Instagram @campbellgirlsays.
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