The ancient artists, they were never wrong
In what they painted: St. Sebastian
By arrows pierced—or Thomas as he feel
The wound of Christ—the exaltation of
The Advent—Mary’s vision—Christ a man
Walking on water, or the boy’s ordeal
Of circumcision—Mary’s gentle love
As the Madonna—the outrageous throng
Calling for crucifixion—crucified,
Christ atop Golgotha beside two thieves--
The shame of Peter—Paul upon the road--
The Revelation—Hell—a mother grieves--
An ear is cut—a kiss—a donkey rode--
Preaching in Rome—their themes ranged far and wide.
These were religious subjects, and the art
Figurative and narrative, technique
Not clumsy, or when clumsy, always striving
For ultimate perfection, as to thus
Glorify Christ, the Lord, and so bespeak
Of man’s nobility, although conniving
Impulse remains yet in the heart of us,
Taking as topic all parts of man’s heart.
In later subjects secular: a woman
Pouring milk from a jug—a game at dice
In gambler’s den—still life with fowl—apprenticed
Craftsmen in studio—other den of vice
Replete with whores—a visit to the dentist
For tooth extraction — comical and common!
What themes were not unknown? In ancient Greece,
In Egypt, in Sumeria, and in
Mesopotamia—all our ancestry
Left pottery and painting that explore
All aspects of the human impulse—sin,
Piety, lust, and grace—so why do we
Within my lifetime, seem to settle for
A blob of grey and black, as that release
Some esoteric human yearning. Why?
Why no one struggle to capture the form
Of human grace and struggle, mortal anguish
As it be manifest? Why seem the norm
To leave art’s discipline and craft to languish,
Amongst our artists trash collaged awry?
Lord, rare will be the man that hope to sketch
With subtlety of renaissance cartoon
Crafted by Leonardo, Raphael—
Yet even we not take such for ideal,
Man’s history spans vast as we attune
To China, South America as well,
Cuba, Yorubaland, all of these real
Our common ancestry: man be no wretch
Within the greatest that he may aspire—
Then let one’s art respect that. Let us treasure
Such works of art, the striving of a craftsman
As that reflect the same time causing pleasure,
The skilled delineation of the draftsman
Combined with that divinity soul fire.