November 11, 2017

THE  GREEN  CHRIST

Green, red, blue, yellow,
black, brown, grey, rust,
rainbow colored Christ,
I shift and hide and sort
myself out at your side - 
as I hide myself under
your cross - as I suffer
the sufferings of life -
these horrible unexpected,
unexplained,  moments  
when all goes wrong - 
a wrong day, a wrong word, 
a wrong turn.  I'm still green
with all this. Forgive me for
I don't know what I'm doing.
I want to hide from others
and let green tears flow from 
my eyes as your red blood 
still flows from your side
down through the centuries.

© Andy Costello, Reflections

Painting by Paul Gauguin,
The Green Christ, 1887

From Widipedia: "The Green Christ 
(in French: Le Christ vert) 
is a painting executed 
by Paul Gauguin in autumn 1889 
in Pont-Aven, Brittany, France. 
Together with The Yellow Christ, 
it is considered to be one 
of the key-works of Symbolismin painting. 
It depicts a Breton woman 
at the foot of a calvary, 
or sculpture of Christ's crucifixion. 
Calvaries are common 

in town squares in Brittany.

Topographically, the site depicted 

is the Atlantic coast at Le Pouldu. 

But the calvary depicted is an amalgam

 of calvaires from different sites; 

the cross is based upon that 

in the centre of Névez, 

a community close to Pont-Avenand 

several miles from the coast, 

and the figure of Christ is based 

upon the calvaire at Briec - 

also some distance from the sea.