Judith Beheading Holofernes, Caravaggio
ON SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY
Holofernes, he waited
Filled with animal lust
He thought would be sated,
Waited as he must
For the comely widowed
Beauty bathed afresh,
Oiled her braids sowed
With scents, and meshed
Her bejeweled diadem
With her finest garments,
Flowed toward lustful him,
The man of armaments –
Already she had trapped
The General with her wiles:
Her flattery wrapped
Him around her smiles,
Her lips, her hair, her eye;
Her daily prayer so common,
Her holy food so nigh
And bundled – so human
Was he, so much a man,
That he could not fathom
His death at such a hand;
He saw only his bastion
That could not be breached.
He opened to her wide
And gave; she reached
Beyond his drunken side
And grasped his sword,
Prayed and slew him.
Beheaded him with a word
Carried his head in the dim,
Past unsuspecting guards:
To save her people
And revenge her Lord,
Her life: a temple.
[It’s not that simple.
She, after all, severed head,
Spilled blood and ample,
Deceived and left one dead.
How many holy rules
Did she willing break?
Pride, contempt of fools,
Vanity, lies, all in wake
Of hatred--revenge God
Claims his sole right--
Flim-flam, seduction. Odd
She be deemed a light
To her own people, but
She had one final grace:
Instead of glorifying strut,
Penance, a hidden face.]
2006
"For Apocryphal Judith on St. Valentine's Day" was included in the unpublished collection Operose Hierodule of the Muse, 2008. I've always found intriguing the stories left out of the official protestant canon of scripture. What stories are being told? Why weren't they included? My poems about these stories are quests for the answers. Below are items related to this blog.
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