To build the Sagrada Familia, the architect Antoni Gaudí created an upside-down model of the cathedral in his workshop using hanging chains.

My life in chains is all I see
within this prison.
And here we hang, with clang on clang,
though God is risen,

and all that dangles of remains
of hopes and dream
sways gently with the darkling chains
from darker beams.

For God has other hopes and dreams,
and from the ceiling
he strings the odd inspired links,
all eyes deceiving,

until the resurrection comes
and on its head
he turns the leaping chainwork up
to spires instead.

This article appears in June 2026.

Rachel Lott’s poems and translations have appeared in First Things, Christian Century and Classical Outlook. Her book of translations, The Sorcerers’ Stone: Alchemical Poems by Angelus Silesius, was published in 2022.