My Prayer-Poem for the 41st Day of Lent, Monday in Holy Week, 29 March 2021

The Taking of Christ
(This poem must be read with the accompanying painting “The Taking of Christ” by Caravaggio)


What drove him to betray you Lord
when you loved him so?
I see him in the painting done
by Caravaggio;
I see his tender traitor’s kiss
but no sign of spite,
the artist shows a worried brow
in clever use of light.
I see his left arm holding as
they greeted Rabbis then
but still he seems uneasy with
that violent band of men.
Your face serene, heart-broken,
the artist wants to show
perhaps betrayal by a friend
of Caravaggio.
Lord, when I see this Judas here
betraying with a kiss,
I ask myself a thousand times
if I love you like this;
if I try to manipulate
your omnipresent power
to force you into following me
in life’s malicious hour.


©️Mark Andrew Smith