Based on El Greco’s “Assumption of the Virgin”
and an anonymous marble sculpture c. 1700
of the same title, both of which reside not far
from one another at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Cast in light as bright as rococo gilt
that frames and bears her upward
on the crescent moon’s silver blade,
El Greco’s untouched Virgin rises
from the mouth of opened stone
she’s slipped, away from earth
and toward the arch of gold-domed
Heaven where reverential angels wait.
But somewhere along the dim lit hall,
Our Lady of forgotten corners and the unnamed
sculptor—Mary of the marble gaze, Virgin
of the chipped away and what remains—
assumes her stance: arms outstretched
to balance on her shattered toes, time-grimed
face alert as if to catch the crack and crash
of falling stone, the silent rising of the dust.
One wretched cherub crushed beneath her ruined hem.
___
Previously published in ECHO: Poems, Bottom Dog Press, 2014
Art Institute of Chicago 1 -2-3-4
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