[ by Charles Cameron — devotional, Good Friday – cross-posted from Zenpundit ]
.
The Word is
You could fold Christ up, once he’s dead
and you’ve taken him down from the cross:
he bends at the knees, the painter
knew this, his head droops to one side,
he weighs as much as he did when
still alive but he’s gone now, what remains
are the remains, he folds at the knees,
this is not unlike lifting furniture, don’t
let him drop. The painter caught you
while you were holding — is anything more
precious, can you even believe who,
what you are carrying? — his dead body,
damp with water, sweat, grievous blood.
And the Word is — he was who he always is.
*
Rogier van der Weyden, Descent from the Cross (ca. 1435, Museo del Prado, Madrid)