An image of the Chagall windows in the Fraumunster church in Zurich.

The stained glass windows done by Marc Chagall in the Fraumunster church in Zurich, Switzerland.

I discovered them when looking for a place to get out of the rain while walking around Zurich today.

This is the sort of place that makes an atheist grateful for believers and proves the existence of grace. Here’s a fragment of what I wrote while I sat and stared at these windows and dried off, a little. It’s about the blue window, second from left.

Spots of red like blood. Blue not like sky or water. Blue like the blues. Blue like his eyes. Lose yourself in it blue. You never knew blue could burn until you saw this blue. Sitting here with every edge wet – feet, ankles, arms – you’d think you’d want the yellow. It’s beautiful, too.

But you want that blue. Because it’s the blue of dreams.

Blue. Himmel. Heaven.