#43 Words from Sicily

Seraphim

Hello Friend,

I was recently revising a poem I'd written many years ago, reflecting the nature of human nature and language. The poem A Babel of Words uses the biblical story of the tower of Babel from Genesis as a metaphor for the over-reaching ambitious nature of humanity.

I've been obsessed with the image of a newly renewed humanity from biblical times after the great flood of Noah when they seem to have learned very little about humility. They were building a tower up to the heavens to reach the almighty. God punishes their arrogance by destroying the construction and breaking the language, so each person cannot understand the next.

In my poem, as the building is being constructed, there is the deafening noise of the universal language, which becomes like a single voice:

A choir building itself up

with a deafening rumble of unison

a body of voices whose swarming

made the Serafini (Seraphim) look down

upon the earth

A Babel of words uttering the one desire of all

to build up to the heavens

to reach the ear of God

The sound grew louder with a resounding

arrogance that pricked the ear of Lucifer

and sparked the anger of the almighty

I'm still working on the rest of the poem, but I enjoy the image of the Seraphim angels or Serafini, who are majestic beings with six wings, human bodies and voices. In the mythology of angels, different types are organised into several orders of angelic choirs. The Seraphim are burning lights of the highest celestial order who serve as the caretakers of God's throne.

Like most writers, I'm a magpie, so these Seraphims took me back to Dante's Divine Comedy in his Paradiso. But there was something familiar about the description of beings with six wings. I'm sure I had seen them somewhere in an artwork.

Quite frankly, it was driving me crazy; I even trawled through the internet. But I couldn't find what I'm sure I had seen.

Finally, I found a brief reference to a mosaic at the Cathedral at Cefalu, which was relatively small, and then it clicked.

It wasn't at Cefalu but at Palermo.

I'd seen those strange creatures at the Duomo of Monreale.

A few ago, I took my son on a day trip to Palermo, and we spent the afternoon exploring the golden mosaics of the Norman Cathedral.

We were in awe of the sheer size and detail of the works of art that covered the entire church interior. We found ourselves trying to identify the different stories from the bible. We could pick out Noah's arch, the nativity, and scenes from the Old and New Testament on either side of the Duomo.

The massive mosaic at the head of the Church is probably the most photographed image from Norman Sicily, the gigantic Cristo Pantacratore Christ, the all-seeing, all-knowing creator of the universe, who, thanks to an optical illusion, seems to be looking at you, no matter where you find yourself in the Church. I know it's creepy.

Then beside the enormous Christ were endless Saints and characters from the bible. My son was happy to find his Saint name (Matthias) and the Saint with his Uncle's name (Damian). I found the big Sicilian Saints like St Agata, St Lucy and others like Mary Magdalene.

The Church is dripping with endless artworks, two large sarcophaguses that house the last two great Sicilian Norman Kings, and side chapels filled with many elaborate marble works and statues. The cloisters are filled with ornate columns that decorate the large courtyard.

No wonder I'd forgotten about my Seraphim, amongst all the other art. A contemporary religious sculpture was even displayed in yet another side chapel.

So I went through all of my photos from that day and found them in all their magnificence.

They were on the left side asp of the Church; I remember glancing up and seeing some wonderfully elaborate angel wings, but I couldn't stop to have a better look as a caretaker to the side chapel was waving me through, telling me to get a move on.

So I lined up a photo with my camera making the most of the light from two small windows near a small Christ designed in the centre surrounded by his angels. I could take a closer look when I edit my photos.

Thank goodness I took the photo as it captures the colours, details and golden light reflected within the medieval mosaic. The vividness of the seraphim's wings were just as I remember them.

The sunlight streaming in creates an illusion of a certain movement, as if the feathers were glistening and alive.

I was in awe by how these fantastical creatures had been depicted so vividly, as if they could swoop down at any moment. It is always astounding how human imagination can be expressed tangibly in art.

The Duomo at Monreale, together with the one at Cefalu and Palermo and Palermo's Palatine Chapel, grouped with the Roman villa at Casale near Caltanissetta, are all magnificent examples of Medieval and late Roman mosaics and are some of the most well maintained and splendid examples of this style of mosaics in the world.

So put these places on your Sicilian bucket list, as they are not to be missed.

I'll never forget finding these angelic beings at Monreale.

If you want to read the completed poem, it's published on my creative writing blog Babel of Words.

I hate to be long-winded, so I will stop here for now.

I'll keep trying to write something worthwhile here every week, perhaps more often if I get in some karmic writing zone.

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Speak again soon.

With love and light from RDB

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