The Fall of St. Michael
"Renaissance Sculpture Damaged in Fall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art"
New York Times, July 2nd, 2008
No one heard you fall
from the lintel.
No one saw bits of blue sky
and clouds crumble
on the museum floor.
But your glazed face
remained whole,
the forlorn, far-away look
in your eyes unchanged,
brows slightly raised--
you still mourn the gravity
of what you decide.
Were the scales you held
too heavy, the souls within
pleading with cupped palms?
Is this why you fell?
All will be restored
the experts say.
So you will continue
on Judgment Day
to weigh the souls
and hold the sword
in your hand
to remind you
of how Lucifer fell
to earth crumpled
in despair.
A lesson for us all
from your accidental fall:
your self-image
never cracked
contained like a ship
in a bottle
of foolproof glass.
Janet Krauss enjoyed teaching English at St. Basil Seminary for 29 years and Fairfield University for 39 years. She continues to mentor students, lead a poetry discussion at the Wilton Library, participate in the Ct. Poetry Society Workshop and other poetry groups. She hosts a poetry reading as leader of the Poetry Program of the Black Rock Art Guild. She has two books of poetry: Borrowed Scenery (Yuganta Press) and Through the Trees of Autumn (Spartina Press). Many of her poems have been published in Amethyst Review and haiku in Cold Moon Journal.
Amethyst Review 