Grünewald Now

R. S. Thomas

She brought these limbs forth
            and death stands by the Cross
            proud of his latest
sculpture. Out of perspective,

they said, who could not endure
            the angle the head made
            with the body, nor the length
of the arms, still too short

to embrace the horror
            of it. We can suffer the art
            better; our problems now,
curators of an enormous

gallery, the valley of
            wrenched bones in which
            we wander, to single this one
out for our veneration.