Three New Works

Tags

acylics, angel of light, charcoal, Cocteau, gold leaf, troubadour

 

Angel of Light; Troubadour; Lovers  all after Cocteau

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Our Daily Bread

Tags

bread oven, Lanhydrock

The Forgiveness Window

Tags

betrayer, crucifixion, discernment, Dorset Museum, forgiveness, glass engraving, Judas, Laurence Whistler, Moreton Church, salvation, thirteenth disciple, thirty pieces silver

More or less, a re-blog, but an apt one.

 

A contribution to the debate as to the ultimate salvation of the

betrayer.

Laurence Whistler created an engraved pane for

Moreton Church, Dorset, UK, in addition to other replacements

for glass destroyed in wartime.

It was rejected and was stored at Dorchester Museum for years,

until after Whistler’s death.  Now it is in position, in spite of its

challenging depiction.

(Judas tree)

Whistler himself had written to The Independent in 1994, from Watlington

in Oxfordshire, after experiencing the rejection of his offer of this 13th pane.

It would only have been visible from the exterior of the church.  It showed

Judas being pulled into Heaven by the rope around his neck.  Some people

are as resistant as that to salvation, I suppose.  Anyway, he commented

that three minutes of agonising strangulation was not to be compared to

the extended suffering of crucifixion.

 

THE FORGIVENESS WINDOW

 

This was to have been a thirteenth blind pane,

seen only from the outside of the church:

replacement for its bombshell-slivered glass.

Judas, the betrayer, hangs from a tree.

His grasp relaxes and thirty pieces

of silver metamorphose into a

c

a

t

a

r

a

c

t

of flowers.

Discernment can come from outside the Church.

Inside some, coin-lidded, opt for cataracts.

Most see through glass darkly; few face to face.

There are several images of the pane which you can access

through Google etc.  Until I visit again and take my own photo,

I cannot reproduce them as they have copyright on them.

On Pursuit of Riches

Tags

pursuit riches, St Paul, tranquillity

Wealth – satisfaction

of all our needs and desires?

But, if your wishes

go beyond your wherewithal,

you are a pauper

and a slave to your own lusts.

Saint Paul said that godliness

with contentment is great gain.

To have control over self

is the one true aim;

is a lifetime’s endeavour.

It will bring great peace.

With acceptance of one’s lot

comes tranquillity of soul.

Expulsion from Eden – after Chagall

Tags

Adam & Eve, Chagall, Eden, watercolour

Epiphany- after Durer

Tags

Durer, epiphany, Hares, Holy Family

The Inexpressible Expressed (a Sestina)

Tags

agora, Diogenes, Epicureans, Halirrhothius, ineffability, Mars Hill, orator, Paul, sestina, Stoics, Unknown God

 

Paul was in the agora (market-place)

and saw the altar to The Unknown God.

Unimpressed by ineffability,

he was moved to make a proclamation.

Being keen on words and declaration,

he spelled out the Creator’s qualities.

 

A skilled orator, he had qualities

respected by debaters in that place.

Converts were won by his declaration.

Diogenes submitted to Paul’s God

and was made Bishop by proclamation:

an agent for Ineffability.

 

Could God retain ineffability

and yet reveal immanent qualities?

His Son, some say, was the Proclamation-

the One prepared to come down to this place,

to manifest the true nature of God

the Father – a fleshly declaration.

 

Not speculation, but declaration

validated ineffability.

Paul introduced the Personhood of God

and defined the Almighty’s qualities.

Stoics, Epicureans in that place

felt the power of his proclamation.

 

The gods had made their own proclamation

on that very site and a declaration

of guilt had been conferred in that same place,

for crimes besmirch ineffability:

Halirrhothius judged for qualities

inconsistent with the ways of a god.

 

On that steep Hill of Mars, who was the god

of War, Paul made a love proclamation.

He swept away the fickle qualities

of their deities.  His declaration

was that Divine Ineffability

condescended to one time and one place.

 

Paul’s proclamation; God’s declaration:

Ineffability’s limitation

of qualities, so we transcend our place.

 

 

 

 

 

Great Coxwell’s Barn

Tags

aesthetic, Cistercian, Cotswold, Genesis, Great Coxwell, Henry VIII, Joseph, Malachi 3, Matthew 6, Pharoah, Pre-Raphaelite, sestina, The National Trust, William Morris

(Photo: Ballista: Wikipaedia)

 

Great Coxwell’s Barn

 

Off Hollow Way stands this vast, vacant barn:

huge receptacle for Cistercian tithes,

garnered from tenant farmers – a dry store,

where the granger checked accounts; did not trust

his hired servants.  Here Cotswold riches

were protected from thieves and from decay.

 

Christ had warned disciples about decay

and storing up of surplus in a barn.

Christians were always meant to share riches

and not to extract profit from fat tithes.

The parable’s ‘fool’ was he whose whole trust

was in possessions.  He had wrath in store.

 

Henry VIII would plunder a marked store

and most abbeys were subject to decay.

Monastic wealth was held in deep distrust.

Though Morris praised this cathedral-like barn,

Pre-Raphaelites would not restore tithes;

they venerated aesthetic riches.

 

We coveted colonial riches

and viewed the whole world as potential store,

compelling other countries to pay tithes;

forgetting moth and rust would cause decay.

What were the treasures we stored in our barn?

We’ll reap what we sowed: we abused faith, trust.

 

Joseph, in whom Pharoah had put his trust,

managed underground silos of riches

and, when his brothers came – not to a barn-

but to the pits where corn was kept in store,

did they recall they’d left him to decay

in such a space?  (He who asked no tithes.)

 

 

This massive hulk, once packed with peasant tithes,

now supported by The National Trust,

mouldered with neglect; died of decay,

until ‘heritage’ was seen as riches.

What are the values we would like to store?

Should we maintain the past?  Convert the barn?

 

Some build barns with their family riches,

but tithes benefited community,

as long as mutual trust did not decay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Sestina on The Fall

Tags

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

(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.