The Last Testament, by John Robert Lee

St. Paul at His Writing Desk, by Rembrandt van Rijn (Netherlands(, 1630.

The Last Testament

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” - 2 Timothy 4:7,8

            “Ah, Holy Spirit, 
how could I have scrolled such mighty things 
if You, Cantor of heaven 
had not breathed your sweet psalms upon my stubborn head;
           hearing inside hearing 
seeing without seeing
chapters of apocalypse, 
leaving Your Word, its precise 
prophetic utterance;
           send Lord, my cloak from Troas 
the books of the old poets
the Salt Sea parchments 
the family engravings from Tarsus;
          that shaky knee hates the cold 
I need some more ink
this vellum is caked with mould 
I think too much of the pancakes 
of Prisca in Corinth;
             the centurion grumbled to himself 
but I heard without hearing
soon it comes, soon it comes 
the black hood bearing 
the clean edged knife
             block under my chin 
last squawking chicken
outside the door, last mouse 
scurrying in the straw, the last damp house.
             Ah Holy Cantor, even so, even so...”

​John Robert Lee

JOHN ROBERT LEE (b. St. Lucia 1948) has published several collections of poetry. His short stories and poems have been widely anthologised. His reviews and columns have appeared with regularity in newspapers, local and regional. He has also produced and presented radio and television programmes in St. Lucia for many years. His books include Saint Lucian (1988), Artefacts (2000), Canticles (2007), Elemental (2008), Sighting (2013), City Remembrances (2016). He compiled and edited Roseau Valley and other poems for Brother George Odlum (2003), Bibliography of Saint Lucian Creative Writing 1948-2013 (2013); he co-edited Saint Lucian Literature and Theatre: an anthology of reviews (2006) with fellow St. Lucian poet Kendel Hippolyte and co-edited Sent Lisi: poems and art of Saint Lucia (2014) with Kendel Hippolyte, Jane King and Vladimir Lucien.