When I'm sitting down and losing ground, shelter me

I think I may have posted about the Pantheon before, but I'm too lazy to check back. Not that it matters, because I wanna talk about it again. There are places in the world that command awe. They have palpable power. Rome is rife with them. Or maybe it was just an awareness or a need in me at that time. I don't know. Either way, the Pantheon was singular in its whiplash grab of my focus. A testament to the wonder it inspires may be that it survives, nearly unchanged, from its first century construction. Rome is full of scavenged ruins, but precious little is preserved nearly intact. There was a great article in The New York Times that mirrors my feelings about this place. When I was there, I lingered for the better part of an hour. My friends, who had been in a produce market nearby, left because they assumed I had gone home alone. They couldn't understand why I'd still be in there. Meanwhile, I gazed transfixed at the oculus. I lingered at the genius Raphael's tomb. I lit a candle and said a prayer for my sisters, both pregnant at the time. Did it start to rain then or was that just a dream?

NOTE: The photo is mine. There is a free registration for the NYT article.