Moonlight on the Lamentation
Beloved, loving John in pink is stretched
Beyond the women and the men, his gold
Love’s crescent brighter than them all and etched
Against dark cliffside blue. Grief uncontrolled
Coerces him to thrust his unstabbed palms
Against his Lover’s chest. Slanting rock
Points towards the mother and her silent psalms
Of agony and yet the scene’s harsh shock
Of slab-like, barren, elemental pain
Gives pride of place to friendship’s love, to John,
The closest to the Loved One, to the main
Point of the painting. He is not a pawn
But leans, the major player, since his love
Is stressed beside the Savior’s mouth, above.