The Deposizione

Rosso Fiorentino ("Firenze Red"), Deposizione

(ca. 1521). Pinacoteca Comunale, Volterra, Italy

“If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise. . . .What is now proved was once, only imagin’d.”

—William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"

Unpinning from the Cross was hard,

with even Seraphs at a loss!

yet human creatures braved the task.

After we'd bribed the Roman dogs

(easy—they were Krauts or wogs)

making mercy's scaffolding obligatory

took ages, till in Nicaea's fair and pleasant city

Great Kostas* forged officious pity.

Persisting in their folly, bishops contrived

monstrosities once only found in thought.

Long they've thrived, long the faithful bought.

Now in this annus horribilis, 2025,

it is uncertain what these days gives.

But—Oh, say it ain't so!—Kostakis lives.

*The Roman emperor Constantine I, called Constantine the Great (r. 306–37 CE), who founded Constantinople as his capital and in 325 imposed the straitjacket of the Nicene Creed on his newly Christianized empire.

Tuesday, December 16. 2025