A Sestina on The Fall

Tags

Adam and Eve, Cranach the Elder, forbidden knowledge, Free Will, hortus clausus, Paradise, sestina, temptation, The Fall

(Cranach the Elder: Uffizi- Adam and Eve)

 

In the hortus clausus of Paradise,

Adam and Eve were naked, without shame;

partook of luscious fruits’ delectation

and yet, both were subject to temptation

and yielded. God then issued His calm denunciation:

expelled, they entered a marred Creation.

 

They wanted to be lords of Creation;

were not content to live in Paradise.

Adam, quick in his denunciation

of his wife and, both wearing leaves of shame,

blamed the wily serpent for temptation.

Forbidden knowledge was delectation.

 

And, oh the price of that delectation:

to have usurped the Lord of Creation!

Over-weening hearts, prey to temptation,

caused them to exchange Earthly Paradise

for lives of labour, childbirth pain and shame

and inter-gender denunciation.

 

Lest we jump to denunciation

of the Almighty, His delectation

in His creatures was His aim.  Death and shame

were never endgames in His Creation.

But how could there be sin in Paradise?

Free will left them open to temptation.

 

Yes, automata feel no temptation:

adoration, or denunciation

of God both possible in Paradise.

Disobedience was their delectation;

they wanted to be Lords of Creation,

yet, till their eyes were opened, felt no shame.

 

Do we repeat the arrogance and shame

in excusing ourselves our temptation?

Have we now lost Free Will?  Does Creation

struggle under God’s denunciation?

There was One, Who said His delectation

was to obey and He left Paradise.

 

We, His new creation; delectation!

Conquering shame, temptation, He opened,

Paradise; cancelled denunciation.                                                                                

Samson: a Ballad

Tags

Ashkelon, ballad, Dagon, Delilah, Gazites, Hebron, jawbone of an ass, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Manoah, Philistines, Samson, Timnath, Weimarer Stadtschloss

(Samson Fighting the Lion: Lucas Cranach

the Elder ; Weimarer Stadtschloss;

Accession No G12)

 

Manoah wept: he had no son.

An angel told his wife:

You will conceive a son and give

him up to God for life.

 

This angel came again and he

had piercing azure eyes.

Manoah, liking what he said,

offered to sacrifice

 

a kid to God and, in the smoke,

the spirit heavenwards

ascended, while the man and wife

pondered on his words.

 

Samson grew in stature tall;

a razor did not trim

his hair, as he was set aside:

the role of Judge, for him.

 

A daughter of his enemies

came to his notice, so,

in spite of what his father said,

to Timnath he would go.

 

Meeting a lion would not prevent

his marriage to a stranger.

He tore the animal apart

(its threat to him no danger.)

 

And, when he passed the carcase next,

bees had filled its middle.

Scooping out honey, he laughed aloud:

Aha!  I have a riddle!

 

Thirty young men attended the feast.

What is strong, but also sweet?

He bet they’d never work it out,

but Samson’s wife was not discreet.

 

The answer, pressured out of her,

Samson lost the forfeit,

but he went down to Ashkelon

and found a way to cheat:

 

he offered the thirty all the fruits

he’d pillaged, far and wide.

Father-in-law was unimpressed

and gave away the bride.

 

Please let me sleep with her, Sam cried,

but ‘father-in-law’ rejected

his overtures and offered up

someone unexpected.

 

Raging, Samson stormed to the fields,

fiery foxes tying

by their tails, igniting corn,

until the crops were dying.

 

The Philistines burned Samson’s ‘wife’

in retaliation.

He took the jawbone of an ass;

displayed his indignation.

 

Twenty years passed and he

the role of Judge enacted,

but, like a moth to candle flames,

was fatally attracted

 

to a harlot (spied upon) –

a honey trap, or bait.

Gazites lay in wait for him.

He made off with the gate

 

and posts, which held the city wall.

He carried them to Hebron.

Enough of whores: he fell in love,

exhibiting his brawn,

 

but not his brain.  Delilah (bribed)

to find his secret strength,

determined, showing greed and pique,

to go to any length

 

until he was unwise and told

how he eschewed a razor.

And, when his hair was shorn away,

his weakness did amaze her.

 

The Spirit of the Lord had left

and Samson, unaware,

had eyes gouged out; was bound with chains

now that he’d lost his hair.

 

A trophy, he would grind the corn,

till Dagon’s feast came round

and then, for sport, they hauled him out-

still bloodied, beaten, bound.

 

Two pillars served as a support,

to lean against the stone,

but hair had grown; his strength returned –

he gave a mighty groan.

 

O let me die with Philistines,

he prayed.  Thy will be done.

He brought the house down literally

and killed them – every one.

 

They buried him beside Manoah.

A Deliverer he’d become,

achieving more in death than life,

foreshadowing God’s son.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Such Thing….

Tags

David Cameron, Decameron, Juncker, Theresa May

(Image from Decameron- no, not David Cameron, though he got us into this farce.)

Juncker:   No such thing

as a free lunch, chere

Therese.

Diesel Recall

Tags

Bodleian, diesel, Douce, re-call, Venus, Volkswagen

 

 

(Venus Rides her Chariot: bodl_Douce 195; orig

uploaded by Tony Harrison)

 

Volkswagen

managed to adapt

their diesels.

Factor 50

Tags

British Library, David and Bathsheba, Factor 50, Harley MS, suntan lotion

 

 

 

(British Library.  Harley MS 2863: David and Bathsheba)

 

May I rub

some sun tan lotion

onto you?

Gone Missing

 

Weird!

I posted this image of Samuel Beckett on my site last year.

It had quite a lot of ‘likes.’  I can prove it is my work as I

have the original painting.

Today I have been trawling through my site to find it

and it has disappeared.  I wanted to show it to someone after

a photography programme on television last week mentioned

my friend, Jane Bown, who took the original photo, on which

I based my painting.

What’s going on, guys?  It feels like it could be the subject of a

work of literature.

If anyone else can find it on my site, please let me know!

Nobel Prize Clerihew

Tags

Blowin' in the Win', Bob Dylan, clerihew, Nobel Prize for Literature, Stockholm

(Bob Dylan onstage at Azkena Rock Festival, 26/6/10

Alberto-Cabello: image  Creative Commons)

 

Bob Dylan,

why were you so unwillin’

to accept your Nobel Prize for Literature, in Stockholm?

Maybe you believe Blowin’ in the Win’ ain’t that great a pome?

Via Crucis- Stations of the Cross

Tags

Atonement, Church of the Flagellation, Gethsemane, John Paul II, Joseph of Arimathea, Judas betrayal, Last Supper, Lune poetic form, myrrh, Peter Denial, Pilate, Roman Catholic, Simon the Cyrenian, Stations of the Cross, The King of the Jews, Veronica, Via Crucis

(Church of the Flagellation- 20/9/2010;

photo by Berthold Werner)

 

I have produced my own Stations of the Cross– fourteen in number,

which is traditional.  However, I have omitted the three ‘stumblings’

and Veronica.  I think I follow recent Roman Catholic editing on

some of this.

The Atonement is my focus and so I have not made the last Station

into a Resurrection.  I think that would be more of a Via Lucis.

( I am not a Roman Catholic, so feel that I can be more independent in

my artistic endeavour.)  I don’t start with Gethsemane, or The Last

Supper, or Judas’ betrayal, or Peter’s denial.  My idea was to concentrate

on 14 episodes in the narrative and I tried to find the quintessence of

the moment by creating 14 lunes, a variation on a poetic form invented

by Robert Kelly, which I have read about.  I use 3-5-3 syllables, so my stanzas

are very condensed and intense.  ( Kelly uses 5-3-5)

Anyway, see what you think:

 

I

Then Pilate

delivered Jesus

to the crowd.

 

II

 

The soldiers

stripped Him; mocked Him with

a thorn crown.

 

III

 

And Simon,

the Cyrenian,

bore His cross.

 

IV

 

He walked:

two malefactors

beside Him.

 

V

 

O Daughters

of Jerusalem,

weep no more.

 

VI

 

He refused

wine, mingled with myrrh,

though thirsty.

 

VII

 

Pilate placed

‘King of the Jews’

above Him.

 

VIII

 

Chief priests,

scribes and elders mocked

Him: Come down!

 

IX

 

His clothing

was divided up,

into lots.

 

X

 

Jesus said:

John, take good care of

my mother.

 

XI

 

He then drank

vinegar and gall

from a sponge.

 

XII

 

His head bowed;

He gave up the ghost.

It’s over.

(Jesus on the cross, St Raphael’s Cathedral,

Dubuque, Iowa. Feb 2006. Jesster 79- Commons Wiki)

 

XIII

 

His side, once

speared, issued forth blood

and water.

 

XIV

 

Taken down,

Joseph had Him placed

in his tomb.

 

Overkill

Tags

Arrest of Christ, Gethsemane, Simon Bening

(The Arrest of Christ: Simon Bening (Flemish)

c1525-30 lido.getty.edu-gm-obj4307

Source:LgHwog18kmephw@google Cultural Institute)

 

Hands bound;

neck in a halter-

overkill?

Temptation: a Haiku

Tags

Duc de Berry, First Sunday Lent, haiku, Limbourg, Mehun-sur-Yevre, Temptation of Christ

Most lovely

Mehun-sur-Yevre:

so tempting.