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The Prisoner

uploaded: Sat, Jul 14, 2012 @ 2:40 PM

by	robwalkerpoet
length	1:18
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The Prisoner

Galleria d’Accademie, Firenze
March, 2003

just steps from David ‘s perfect form
humanity’s epitome determined gaze
tendonned hands and muscled flesh

it stands
love’s labor lost.

five hundred years unfinished still
roughhewn by Michelangelo

Atlas.

pressing upward powerfully
outwardly forever doomed
faceless white translucent flesh

eternity denies parole
incarcerated in Carrara
halflife halfdeath
halfchiselled marble

as David
we aspire to perfection

but most of us
locked potential prisoners
bearing world’s weight on rough shoulders

are Atlas.

© rob walker.
sparrow in an airport/ New Poets Ten, Friendly Street, 2005.
ISBN 1 86254 670 3

Gazing at an unfinished sculpture by Michelangelo can’t help but make you think of what-ifs and untapped potential…