Lift High the Cross!
For the Feast of the Holy Cross we're posting two short pieces. The first is Evan's poetic meditation on the Holy Cross, and the second is simply Matthew's description of a hypothetical icon of Christ Pantocrator.
The cross itself unfolds
In the undulations of time.
Warp-wood, weft-woe,
Flowering.
The Heart is a rosebud
planted with ploughshares-to-be
undying in, out-pouring
bleeding.
Lift high, lift high!
Stretch out the very sky
Torn-robe, shred-cover
Freeing.
In Heaven, Christ is seated on His cruciform throne, the Cross that bore him since he first bore it. The wooden throne, with tracery in crimson, spreads out its wings in which his subjects take refuge. In the king's outstretched hand, scarred gloriously with the name of his beloved, a scepter benevolently lowered: a golden reed worked with green.
He is crowned above with gold and silver acaccia blossoms, set with thorns of coral. And the fragrance of that holy crown rises and like precious incense fills the throne room. And in the presence of such a diadem, all laurels cast themselves at Christ's pierced feet, crying "Holy, holy, holy," from the paving stones of lapis lazuli. And from Christ's lordly shoulders hangs his purple robe, slashed with scarlet in jagged rents, rich as purple Heaven, dark as sacramental wine.
And above his head, on the high-backed olive wood throne, hangs a simple symbol of His authority:
ישׁועה הנצרי מלך היהודים
Ιεσυς ο Ναζωραιος ο Βασιλευς των Ιυδαιων
IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDAEORVM
The cross itself unfolds
In the undulations of time.
Warp-wood, weft-woe,
Flowering.
 |
| Adoracion de la Santa Cruz por Santa Helena y el emperador Heraclio Miguel Ximenez circ 1487. |
planted with ploughshares-to-be
undying in, out-pouring
bleeding.
Lift high, lift high!
Stretch out the very sky
Torn-robe, shred-cover
Freeing.
In Heaven, Christ is seated on His cruciform throne, the Cross that bore him since he first bore it. The wooden throne, with tracery in crimson, spreads out its wings in which his subjects take refuge. In the king's outstretched hand, scarred gloriously with the name of his beloved, a scepter benevolently lowered: a golden reed worked with green.
He is crowned above with gold and silver acaccia blossoms, set with thorns of coral. And the fragrance of that holy crown rises and like precious incense fills the throne room. And in the presence of such a diadem, all laurels cast themselves at Christ's pierced feet, crying "Holy, holy, holy," from the paving stones of lapis lazuli. And from Christ's lordly shoulders hangs his purple robe, slashed with scarlet in jagged rents, rich as purple Heaven, dark as sacramental wine.
And above his head, on the high-backed olive wood throne, hangs a simple symbol of His authority:
ישׁועה הנצרי מלך היהודים
Ιεσυς ο Ναζωραιος ο Βασιλευς των Ιυδαιων
IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDAEORVM
Comments
Post a Comment