August 5: Day by Day with Father Bill
THURSDAY OF THE EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
And That is Why by Adam Zagajewski
And that is why I paced the corridors
Of those great museums
Gazing at paintings of a world
In which David is blameless as a boy scout
Goliath earns his shameful death
While eternal twilight dims Rembrandt’s canvases
The twilight of anxiety and attention
And I passed from hall to hall
Admiring portraits of cynical cardinals
In Roman crimson
Ecstatic peasant weddings
Avid players at cards or dice
Observing ships of war and momentary truces
And that is why I paced the corridors
Of those renowned museums those celestial palaces
Trying to grasp Isaac’s sacrifice
Mary’s sorrow and bright skies above the Seine
And I always went back to a city street
Where madness, pain, and laughter persisted –
Still unpainted