SAINT JULIAN PRESS

 

DAVID BRENDAN HOPES ~ POET

 

 

The Annunciation

Jan van Eyck

 

 

In this Northern Annunciation

do not anticipate conflict

between conviction and observation.

To be thought of is to be achieved.

The rainbow hilarious archangel

warps the floor with real weight.

The Holy Ghost descends like

a circus dancer on a golden wire,

smaller than doves in life,

as if to affirm the miracle

survives the carnival of externals.

Mary says her lines upside-down

for His convenience.

The agent of a bashful love,

the angel brings her lilies,

smiling sweetly at it all,

ear cocked to the tramp

of kingdoms in the lily's throat.

The Testament, an afterthought

cut in an incidental floor,

holds this jewel, this sky-larking up.

 

 

 

 

 

PENIEL

 

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