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 assumes the hollowness of this museum's 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 daughter’s truth,
As history has observed, this museum now
Displays a fallen angel’s wings burning in demise.
End
Weakened Effigy
By R. Cary
Copyright 2023