"Faith - is the Pierless Bridge"

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Faith - is the Pierless Bridge
Supporting what We see
Unto the Scene that We do not -
Too slender for the eye
It bears the Soul as bold
As it were rocked in Steel
With Arms of steel at either side -
It joins - behind the Vail
To what, could We presume
The Bridge would cease to be
To our far, vascillating Feet
A first Necessity.

 Fr 978


This poem is an attempt to explain and visualize the idea of “faith”.  The poem focuses on the nature of faith for humanity, as well as describing the purpose it serves. The speaker in this poem likens faith to a bridge, a connection from what we can see and experience to what we cannot yet make out with the eye. For the soul, faith is a support system as strong as steel, cradling the soul on its journey from the seen to the unseen. However, it is important to note the implications of using a bridge as a metaphor for faith. While the speaker insists that this bridge will hold strong and serve its purpose, the only way for a bridge to serve its purpose in connecting one thing to another is if we decide to act and walk across it. The existence of the bridge, or faith, is not in question, a bridge exists regardless of whether we cross it or not. In the end of the second stanza, the speaker assures the reader that although we cannot see what lies behind the “vail”, the bridge of faith will still guide us there.
The last stanza focuses on the nature and necessity of faith. The speaker begins by stating that if we could presume to know what was behind the vail, or beyond mortal understanding, the bridge of faith would then be purposeless, it would no longer be a necessity at all. In this way, faith is somewhat circular and dependent upon our own uncertainty. In order to reach or connect from the known to the unknown, one must take the bridge of faith. Though our feet are “vascillating” and hesitant, the bridge is strong and sure beneath us. If we were completely sure of our destination, the way we are sure of the reality of our destination in life, then we would not need the bridge of faith. When I picture Dickinson’s metaphor of a bridge, I picture something very similar to the photo attached. Were I to come across a bridge like this, in which I could not make out what was on the other side, I would walk across it knowing that although I could not describe where it would end, I could know that it did end somewhere, and its existence predated my knowledge of it or my discovery of the bridge. This poem does not seem to be religious, however it is insistent in the power of faith. The bridge in the poem is a spiritual one rather than a material one. Although it cannot be seen, the power of connection through faith is as strong and sure as steel.





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