This poem was written after one glance at Odilon Redon's "Mystery" and as part of the IGRT challenge by Hedgewitch to write an ekphrastic poem on one of Redon's works. The lamb in the poem is from both the painting and an experience shared with a dying loved-one who asked, "Who is that man over there?" When asked what man she meant, she pointed to blank space and said that man with the sheep." She was a lifelong Catholic. She "should have" seen a man with a glowing heart. She saw lambs. Mystery.
the final mystery
hanging on the wall
a man
a lamb
a cup
a man with a lamb in his hands
a man cradling a cup
like Lazarus, a man raised up
around my neck
upon my wall
that man
that plan
that mystery
