Loren Hintz became woodcrafter as a teenager and spent three summers at the College of Indian Wisdom 1933 – 1935. He was a dancer, writer, actor, and loved life. He was a pilot during WWII and on April 21, 1945, at age 27, his plane was shot down in Italy.
This poem, from Loren’s book of poems Youth Dreams (1937), is offered here to commemorate his short life on the anniversary of his death. The poem is published with permission from Gretchen Hintz Wronka, his daughter. Thanks to Pam Percy for contacting the Institute and letting us know about Loren.
CHURCHES
Man has built mighty cathedrals,
Cathedrals with painted windows,
marble pillars built with the costliest of stone–
Cathedrals decorated by master artists
with paintings and with statuary,
And are very beautiful,
these man made temples of worship to G_d.
And man has said, the only way to worship
is in a temple built with gold.
But G_d has built a mightier cathedral,
a cathedral older than man,–
A temple such as man would not think of building,
Such as he could not build, if he would.
G_d’s temple is the out-of-doors.
It is all nature:
The great forests, the mighty mountains,
the rivers, lakes, the ocean,
and all of life.
If G-D made all of this,
Would it not be better to worship in His temple
Than in the small, insignificant structures
built by man?
