Masque — Good Friday
[lineate]We know the triumphant end of that old scenario:[/lineate]
[lineate]disembowelled shroud, vacant catacomb[/lineate]
[lineate]incredible gossip of love-struck women[/lineate]
[lineate]whose eyes and hands and arms[/lineate]
[lineate]encompassed the impossible incarnate eternal,[/lineate]
[lineate]the risen God —[/lineate]
[lineate indent=6]the empty mask, inanimate[/lineate]
[lineate]signature of death’s humanity[/lineate]
[lineate]crosses to centre stage before that tremendous denouement.[/lineate]
~ John Robert Lee
John Robert Lee is a writer of prose, poetry, journalism; a librarian; and a former radio and television broadcaster. His latest publications are ‘elemental: new and selected poems, 1975-2007’ ( Peepal Tree Press, 2008), ‘Sighting and other poems of faith’ (Mahanaim, 2013), ‘Bibliography of St. Lucian Creative writing: 1948-2013’ (Mahanaim, 2013), and ‘City remembrances: Poems’ (Mahanaim, 2016) . His bibliography of Caribbean literature is available here.