A crimson trickle stains the floor
now disturbed by the artist’s name.
In the darkened room
they watch with curious stares
at a scene beyond belief.
Locked in cells of their own making
the prisoners look through the bars
of captivity to a man
not any man,
but a voice that cried in the wilderness
“make straight the way of the Lord.”
Gold platter in hand
she, Salome stoops to scoop up
the head of the one
they call the Baptist,
but it lies still attached to a body
covering the legs of a lamb
led to another slaughter.
The wrinkled woman’s scream
is silent in space
hanging low
over the red cloak
flowing freely over
a body nearing life’s end.
Knife poised in hand
he is ready
to honor Herod’s request,
a gift to a dancer’s moves
mesmerizing Herod
once touched by
John’s wild words.
The paint of pain pours
onto the canvas of
light and dark shadows
overwhelming a holy place,
St. John’s Co-Cathedral
in Valetta, Malta.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Visio Divina of Caravaggio’s Beheading of John the Baptist