Forgotten Ground Regained
Beneath a golden altar
Cassidy McFadzean
This bishop’s regal ‧ resting placeis in a glass enclosure, a gleaming cagewhere his body has long ‧ lain on display,bones glossy ‧ and grit with glaze,beneath a golden altar ‧ and angel’s gaze.Dressed in vestments, he’s doomed and fatedto tarry, ever flanked ‧ by twin figureson either side, saints treasured,and clothed in white ‧ with crowns of gold,palm leaves saved ‧ for centuries.In this crypt beneath ‧ the basilica, the skeletonsleeps in slippers, snoozing in a mitre,his eternal slumber, his smiling teethlike Sleeping Beauty ‧ if the sultan never came,like Briar Rose ‧ if reaping was her game.A ghost in a window, a waking dream.Who is this creature? Say what I mean.
Copyright © Cassidy McFadzean, 2012
First published in RiddleHoard
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Answer:Body of Saint Ambrose in Sant’Ambrogio Basilica