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Portraiture

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I have recently retire from 42 years of church ministry, the last 25 years as an ordained deacon in the Catholic Church. In these 42 years, a huge part of ministry has been ministering to grieving families. At the many wake/vigil prayers at which I presided, there are many picture boards protrayhing the deceased throught the entirety of the deceased's  life: from infancy onward. It is the portraits of the deceased that have had the greatest attractin for me. 

Have you ever looked into the eyes of a portraiture? In these wells of the soul lay the expressive depths of the human spirit, the pain and sorrow, the hopes and dreams, the love and the joy, and peace and reconciliation. On the picture boards at wakes and funerals, I peer into the eyes of the deceased, trying to catch a glimpse of what they were thinking, what they were feeling at the various times of their lives portrayed from infancy through their school years, from courtship to weddings, from young parenthood to adolescent parenthood to grandparenthood. I love to pour through my photographs of you, generally late at night when you are off to work, slowly, carefully savoring the intricate pattern of shading, highlighting your cheeks, your smile, and most especially, your eyes, your dark brown eyes, in whose mysterious depths resides the beautiful portraiture of God.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2020




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Date: 2/23/2020 4:50:00 AM
WorldPoetryOPEN MIC /ON TWITCH WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THIS.
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Robert Wagner
Date: 2/26/2020 7:05:00 PM
thank you Vickie. I haven't thought of recording my poems. I will have to get a microphone and see how well they record on my computer.
Date: 2/23/2020 4:47:00 AM
AWESOME WORK . YOU SHOULD TUNE IN TO ''WPOM''ON FRIDAYS 10 PM EST AND READ YOUR WORK...WorldPoetryOpenMic oN TWICTHhttps://www.twitch.tv/search?term=worldpoetryopenmic
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Robert Wagner
Date: 2/26/2020 7:04:00 PM
Thank You Vickie. Sorry about the late reply … I have been working on my taxes. The poem originated with my presiding a wake prayers and looking at the picture boards families put up about their deceased loved one. With my wife working nights as an RN, I would lay in bed at night before sleep, looking at the pictures I have of her on my tablet. It is always the eyes that draw my attention. There is so much depth in the eyes of a portrait.
Date: 2/11/2020 10:05:00 AM
Lots to think about with that, especially your second stanza.
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Robert Wagner
Date: 2/11/2020 8:29:00 PM
Thank you Miranda.

Book: Shattered Sighs