Doubting Thomas

Doubting Thomas

April sunshine has given me the courage to take on the challenge of writing Ekphrastic poems. I have never attempted to translate the emotion from paintings, drawings, sculptures, or other visual works of art into words. The challenge will require me to dig deep to tap into the passions such works of art create inside a person. Most of what I write will be speculative. There will be times when I will place myself into the mind of the artist. Still other times, I will express the emotions I experience gazing at the work of art. If I get creative, I might even tell the story from an element within the work of art. This Ekphrastic poems is based on a painting by Caravaggio entitled Doubting Thomas.   

Doubting Thomas

I didn’t believe their report,

But in my defense, neither would you

If they told you he wasn’t dead.

If you listen to what I exhort

You will understand why I had my doubts.

What I’m about to say is true.

I watch them hang him on the cross

With the son burning on his head

I saw his body as they placed him in the grave

Bloody, battered, bruised, and with death contort

It’s illogical to think a corpse

Rotting in the grave for three days

Could roll a stone away

I won’t believe it until I have proof

This could all be a spoof

A trick The Pharisees play

I want to see with my own eyes

The Master without a disguise

I need to touch

The nail prints in his hands

The piercing scar in his side

Peter says I’m a fool not to believe

Matthew says I need to have a little faith

John claims I have too much pride

The women tell them to let me grieve.

Then we gather in the room

And Jesus suddenly appeared

A materialization of what I most feared

My heart stopped beating in my chest

But only for a second

He looked at me with those compassionate eyes

And held out his hands for me

And lifted his shirt so I could see

Realizing when I already knew

I was handling the Son Of God

Forever, I will go down in history

As the disciple who doubted

And stuck his fingers in his Saviors wounds.

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

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