Madonna and child

Poem by Jenny Webb

In just a heartbeat
Space dissolves
And time stands still

And oh! the ecstasy, the thrill
In that dissolving unity
That tender gaze…

A blink before the birth of fear
When cruelty was a distant cloud
A devil’s joke

And there was love, and peace, and hope
And all was well and would be well

But now, dear Jesus gazes
From above
And sees calamity unfold.

A little child, a holy man, a sort of god
He’s all of them
Yet helpless in this dreadful mire.

He seeks the tender touch of Mary
Once again, but she is gone
And paradise is lost
And God the Father looks on bitterly

And is this it?  The end of hope?
The triumph of the devil’s joke?

Or is there still a hopefulness
In mother love, and birth and growth?

Jenny says: ‘The exquisite roundel of the madonna and child is a thirteenth-century wall painting [above], which can be found in the Bishop’s Chapel adjoining Chichester Cathedral. Its revolutionary use of gold, silver and lapis lazuli has been described as giving it a “glittering innocence”. It probably survived the Reformation by being covered up, only to be seen again 600 years later. Even now it is only occasionally revealed to the public. I know of no other portrayal of Mary and Jesus in which they gaze so lovingly into each other’s eyes.’

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