His Beauty My Secret, by Paul Crompton

The Last Judgement, detail, by Michelangelo (Italy), 1536-1541.

His Beauty My Secret

And when I brought his face to life,
manifest idea of heaven into his eyes,
it was of my own personal Jesus.
It was in his beauty
within which I toiled,
made his face smooth
as worked marble,
touched his lip with tip of finger
then left him for time to abuse.

In court yard of soiled faith
etched from empirical pagan ritual,
I’d watch his sun warmed lips
call beyond olive gardens
to where, in red wine reverie, I rested;
and I’d dream of buildings
where I could tell the story
of my secret faith, retell it
within his simple hands.
Gardens where I’d whisper
secrets into empty nights
and where he keeps them still,
no loose tongue let slip
for deceptive judges’ to cast scorn.

In place of purest sanctuary
I brought him to life.
With a lick of gilded brush
his holy cheek flushed pink
as if affected by heavenly hand
that blew life into his heart.
Now he overlooks their days
as he does mine, but
they shall not know his name,
his real name, is not wrought
from scripture, but wrung dry
from a thirsty shame
that casts shadow on my days.

Paul Crompton
​
Paul Crompton is a poet and journalist on the south Coast. He performs at Brighton's many open mic nights and produces a quarterly chapbook of the town's poets 

During a guided art tour, it was pointed out to the poet that Michelangelo may have modelled the face of Christ in the Last Judgement after the antiquity statue of Apollo Belvedere, ca. 350 B.C.