Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume One Nov-Dec 2026.
The Seraph of Heavenly Architecture by David Dephy.
The divine symmetry of the Empire State Building has fascinated me since childhood. Yes, it possesses divine symmetry— a 102-story Seraph of Heavenly Architecture with expansive wings of human stories and aspirations, rays from beyond, wishes, and untold secrets. It stands as a magnificent spirit of the city built on Earth, a symphony of mystery, the conductor of America’s great narrative, and a prophecy speaking of its time, its place, and its yearning for eternity.
The Empire State Building is built on breath—on vision. The architects, the magi, revealed a mystery: that beauty is light dancing over the idea of life, an idea through which we’ve long sought to understand divine perfection and the omnipresent pulse of human desire. It embodies prayers, visions, and the passion to manifest order through symmetry and foresight, representing one of the highest forms of genius.
There is no other building on Earth that fascinates me more. Since my childhood, I have loved this building with a strange certainty—believing that to look up into its sky was to know Heaven and the Seraph had already granted my sacred wishes. I looked, and for a breath, the whole city held its light. I feel its presence—it is alive. It is a message, a novel, a poem. It carries the energy of a rock concert. Yes, it is a rock star building—it brings you an enigma. William Frederick Lamb was a prophet. As the principal architect of the Empire State Building, of the firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, he didn’t merely design a skyscraper; he transformed light, wonder, mystery, and passion into structure and stone, and yes, the Empire State Building stands as a Seraph of Heavenly Architecture—the celestial ancestral source from which all the buildings draw their breath.
For just a moment, Herald Square fell surprisingly still as I walked with my wife and son that morning, and she took a picture of me. She said, “I’ll try to capture this fleeting moment of silent mystery. It’s so quiet in New York City; we must be very lucky. Yes, look at me, please, and make a wish.”
© David Dephy
David Dephy is a National Award-winning American poet, novelist, and multimedia artist. He is the founder of the Poetry Orchestra. Named Poet-in-Residence for Brownstone Poets for 2024-2026. His recent books include Gemini Touch (a novella, Westbrae Literary Group, 2026) and Rays Never Were So Near as Now (poetry, Westbrae Literary Group, 2025). His poetry was sent to the Moon by NASA, Lunar Codex, and Brick Street Poetry in 2025. Dephy was exiled from his native country, Georgia, and granted indefinite political asylum in the U.S. With support from organizations such as the Artistic Freedom Initiative and PEN America, he secured asylum and reunited with his family in the U.S.
His works have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies worldwide, including Kansas City Review, Hudson Valley Writers Guild, International Poetry Review (Tufts University and the University of North Carolina Greensboro), Stanford University Poetry Media Lab, Shenandoah, Sampsonia Way, North Dakota Quarterly, Straylight Literary Magazine, and others. He lives in New York and works as a Teaching Artist at the New York School for Art.