Ravens Gather

He lies beside a marbled edifice
In deepest repose
Slumbering
Hand, stilled yet ready
As if transfixed by his journey
Once clinging to a staff of life
Now captured in stone.

Which brought him home to immortality?
Frailty of man or sinner’s remorse
While ravens gather
To ravage sight and bone
And scatter ash before the altar
An unknown.

Pilgrim, whose earthly flesh
Gives way to mortal means
By Christ’s cross is saved
To roam the earth no more
Reclines before the tomb’s facade
And speaks no more
A man in need, alone.

A tribute to Felix-Joseph Barrias’ painting:
“Death of a Pilgrim”
The Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo, Ohio 5/13/09

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go along with my son Aaron’s sixth grade class to the Toledo Museum of Art. The assignment for the class was to pick out at least four pieces of art they liked, record the details of what, where, why and make a sketch. I found this to be a particular challenge to myself as I was responsible for chaperoning my son and two of his classmates. A fourth student was absent so I was able to use the extra assignment sheet for my own purposes.

Indeed, it did not take long for me to find a particularly imposing sculpture from Japan that captured my fancy. It was a fierce looking warrior at least eight feet in height and standing poised at the entrance way of an exhibition room. The description of the piece noted the title, “Rishamonten” and that it was missing a spear in the raised right hand and a miniature pagoda in the upturned left. The eyes were fixed in an evil “V” and the mouth set in an angry grin with legs, feet and torso arranged in a manner suggesting a fluid movement like a martial arts “kata”. I can tell you it was hard to miss which is why I am certain it was so strategically placed in the museum.

Further along, I noticed an oil painting by Felix-Joseph Barrias titled: “Death of a Pilgrim”. The first thing I noted was how two ravens stood out in the forefront with two leafless trees and several more birds in flight circling overhead. To the lower left was a structure of stone that resembled a temple or mausoleum. Lower still laid the upper portion of a man whose body was mostly obscured by a stone entrance way. His head was back and one forearm was raised at an angle with its hand limp suggesting he had died in a rather dramatic pose. A walking staff with a gold crucifix at the top leaned at a right angle and leather like pouch lay in the background on the far entrance stone. The scene suggested the end of a journey where the pilgrim had reached a point where he could go on no further and had laid down to rest. It is a scene that begs attention to detail as you might miss the image of the pilgrim all together.

I could not help picturing this scene in my mind and how it reflects life’s journey. Sure, I could have just briefly scanned the painting and moved on, but it drew me in much differently than the warrior in the next room. There was something that said “look a little closer” and it spoke to me. There was a poem here that was leaping from the canvas and I took a few notes as the feelings and words fell over me like a gentle wave of water. Now that you have read the poem and read the story behind it, take a few moments to breath deeply and ponder the image of your life as that of a pilgrim. We all know we are on a journey and that it will end some day, but where do we want it to end? Speaking for myself, I would like to think that I would be found still poised and ready to continue on despite the hardships I found along the way and with the cross of Jesus still in sight. In this painting I am reminded of my own mortality and the fact that faith is what drives me on and will bring me home to the place God has prepared; his mansion in heaven.