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| original painting by Dominic Martinelli - see: https://www.dominicmartinelli.com/blog/the-transfiguration/ |
Transfigured
Scrambling and scrabbling over scree,
snaking their way along ridges
on the barest of trails,
they climb,
leaving earthly things behind.
Clambering with effort around crags,
avoiding cliff edges,
looking up occasionally, and feeling dizzy,
still they follow him.
He ascends the heights
like Moses did so long ago,
he, who wrote the Law on stone.
They pause awhile upon the mountaintop,
almost, but not quite, the roof of the world,
and suddenly, the light is blinding,
bright, white;
searing the scales from disciples’ eyes.
And for a moment, here, closer to the heavens,
they see him for who he truly is:
magnificent and glorious,
majestic.
Shining amid rocky pinnacles
the humble rabbi
is transfigured –
shot through with shafts of
burning brilliant white,
exalted,
conversing in illustrious company.
Moses, the Law maker,
Elijah, the prophet,
return to the mountaintop
to meet with the Messiah –
transcendent anointing.
Senses ravished by unearthly beauty,
desperate to stay,
Peter babbles of pitching tents,
unable to understand
the mystery and glory of the moment.
It passes.
They slope back down from the summit,
subdued, and told to keep the secret:
a truth that they cannot comprehend
when they descend
and are more earthly-minded.
And only after pain and grief,
execution,
and a resurrection
will they truly see him for who he is once more.
c.Nik Mac