Good Friday
by Steven McCabe
Jesus swayed to the music, grooving in the rain.
Not yet a prisoner at Abu Ghraib.
The rope he used whipping the parasites in the Temple
passed hand to hand.
Like the very young, he also desired peace and love.
The authorities posed him, for sport,
in their carnival of madness.
Roll away the stone.
Before midnight.
Before midnight,
a young artist storms the stage.
Wearing red oak leaves,
illuminating
the vast, glistening night.
Unknown.
Commingling with rain & shadows.
Crying forth her gravelled composition.
Melanie Safka performing Birthday of the Sun live at Woodstock (1969):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Bwz0idx7s
Roll away the stone.
Source material:
Christ’s Crucifixion by Diego Velaquez
*
Photograph of
Abu Ghraib prisoner
@ Wikipedia.org
*
Woodstock photo (detail) uncredited, found online.
*
I’ve digitally recomposed new images for non-commercial
purposes of commentary.
poemimage 
Powerful stuff, and this line pierces, “The authorities posed him, for sport/
in their carnival of madness.” Love Melanie Safka. That voice. She was recently interviewed on an Australian radio program and she spoke about how she ended up at Woodstock and the atmosphere when she was about to go on and the rain and her fear. “Birthday of the sun” … I’m going to contemplate this phrase. x
Thanks for these thoughts. I wrote that line after (unfortunately) viewing the photos.
I read that Melanie Safka took the stage at that particular moment because Incredible String Band wouldn’t play in rainy conditions. What a perfect moment for her. And to think how young she was. I find it a beautiful, heartfelt song. Rather cosmic, which fits the Woodstockian ideal!
The sequence of images is increasingly luminous and magical. Roll away the stone!
Thank you for this observation. I worked on that transitioning so it seems part of a whole. Thought I was done and then went back for another few hours.
Yes, that phrase!
Wonderful!
Thanks Richard!
This is such an original poetic approach…. I much enjoyed it…
Thanks for sharing & best wishes to you. Aquileana 😀
Thank you very much. I’m glad you enjoyed it and appreciate your best wishes. Same to you!