Sacristy Painting
To the east of the pontifical archway, God and I lie asleep.
On the staircase to the west: a pagan, with a tormented gaze, watches me and knows
that I am fated for the chest the devil guards under seven locks
in the shack by a red lake,
stained with the spilled blood of my mother,
who, in the death of birthing me into the world,
understood the world to be fleeting—
a crystal with sharp edges, a prism of many facets.
It will ache in my heart when I remember who died for me,
it will ache in my soul when I reveal my ingratitude.
But this world is not worth much to me,
and there is little in this world
that is worth as much as the love
of the one who died for me.
– Painting by Aldo Locatelli, “Last Judgment and scenes from the Dies Irae, ceiling of São Pelegrino, Caxias do Sul.