“Write your own poem that describes a detail in a painting, and that begins … with a grand, declarative statement.” I used a sculpture, but it’s the same spirit. (https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-seven-11/)
Never have I seen such monumental sorrow!
Never have I seen stone tremble in anguish!
The Roman Pietà composes a triangle,
From a hypotenuse of earthly rock,
Past the savior’s lolling body,
Drawing the eyes up toward heaven.
At the apex, Mary’s face, cast down in mourning,
overwhelmed by loss.
No mother should outlive her son.
The subtlety of veins in his hands and feet
Whisper immanent resurrection
and the promise of eternal life,
Render her anguish everlasting.
The humanity of this sculpture destroys me!
This is not a celebration of sacrifice.
This is a memorial to the grief of Mary,
a pietà in the truest sense:
Salvation at the cost of a mother’s eternal sorrow.
John the Librarian 