Love Beyond Love
Ordination' by Nicolas Poussin, 1630s They came from various walks of life. They followed. There were eight, nine, ten, and then there were twelve. "Did you hear him?" Asked one bystander. "Did you listen?" Asked another. "He speaks of wheat and weeds," said a third. They move from town to town, the eight, nine, ten, and twelve. They draw others to them always to follow, as they follow. "I ate fish," said one who dined. "There was plenty," said another. "It might have been a miracle," said a third. Some rebuke, those with power to lose. They criticize the one who stands as a shepherd before the eight, nine, ten, and twelve. The one says He is good. He says His flesh is bread. He says He will spill out His wine. He carries a beam of wood without followers. Yesterday there were twelve, ten, nine, eight. Now there is one, and His mother. "I heard he raised up a dead friend," said one with a sword. "He made clai...