The Woman in the Sun and the Seven-Headed Dragon

The Woman in the Sun and the Seven-Headed Dragon; and the War in Heaven, The Apocalypse (England, London, c.1380-c.1390 and c.1400-20) [1] Circles within circles Hours come round The holy woman seated upon the moon gives birth And her child is borne away by an angel From the clutches of the dragon She points to them both And becomes a turning point Later the battle is fought Between the angels and

July 11th, 2016|Comments Off on The Woman in the Sun and the Seven-Headed Dragon

Crucifixion, Missal

Crucifixion, Missal (Italy, Perugia, before 1297)[1] The stretched ligaments Are presented by the suffering eye The circles of the haloes scuffed by the devotions Of the monks to the five wounds and the five prayers The translucent fabric phases in and out of visibility Thin and pale Only with the eye an inch away can we make it out Is this what salvation takes? This squinting at suffering through a lens

July 11th, 2016|Comments Off on Crucifixion, Missal

The Flight into Egypt

The Flight into Egypt, Book of Hours (France, Paris, c.1440-c.1450) [1] This refugee family treks into a strangely familiar Egypt The baby wrapped up into a canopic jar His precious body and blood protected by golden swaddling bands An angel follows with a small bag And a heavenly sceptre He walks a step behind the donkey How tiresome for him who can run with the quick and the dead Whose speed

July 11th, 2016|Comments Off on The Flight into Egypt

The Annunciation, Hours of Albrecht von Brandenburg

The Annunciation, Hours of Albrecht von Brandenburg (Flanders, Bruges, c.1522-1523)[1] The dove hovers between Mary and her symbolic background Creating its own rainbow in a circle She has not yet acquired her dreadful foreknowledge Or an acceptance of angels Things are not yet out of joint Heaven is heaven and she studies it on her knees and points to it above And she can look forward to a normal future where

July 11th, 2016|Comments Off on The Annunciation, Hours of Albrecht von Brandenburg
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