Weakened Effigy
By R. Cary
My weakened effigy conspiring
The Exhausted Man touring
Pressed between my perceptions of masculinity
And canvasses of Madonna and Child nurturing
Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes,
My landscape purveys my sense of self seen in my
Cringing brows. A mirror upon the ceiling visualizes
Distortions reflecting myself conspiring, sabotaging.
A man of faith, a loving father of his children
Beheaded and forlorn. I have given my heart
The warner of the trojan horse being punished by the Gods.
These museums’ walls are thousands of years old;
Time penetrates my effigy, time living in translucence
As a silhouette of an art of work, my only sanctity of truth.
But the mirror up high distorts my space in this room,
Art pressures me to descension conjuring perceptions
My fading efforts unfold, a new story once seen.
My effigy painted as fading efforts arise when perceived;
The mirror deflects, rejects, denies my pursuits of goodness.
My body assuming the hollowness of these museums’ halls,
I begin to accept in this life pursuits in doing right,
Pursuits in serving the justice of ourselves comes at a cost.
My effigy will be lost in time.
The truth of me, the truth of my efforts
As a work of art will not be my daughters’ truth,
As history has observed these museums now
Display a fallen angel’s wings burning in his demise.
End
Weakened Effigy
By R. Cary
Copyright 2022
Poetry & Prose By R. Cary 