Trilogy : Salvation | Die Trilogie : Heil
This Trilogy, by request, comprises three separate pieces in four parts:
1 Compassion
2 (a) Good Friday
2 (b) What?! He Is Risen?!
3 JOB - Lucifer - SALVATION
all of which appear on this website under those titles and with extensive notes, should this be of interest.
The Trilogy | Die Trilogie carries just one image, whereas the separate pieces all have their own images.
I have deliberately chosen this delicate depiction of an horrendous execution, for we see too much the reality of evil, made worse by dramas and series where there are no longer any bounds on directors and producers, and actors alike.
It Begins | Es Beginnt
And gazing upon their anger and frustration…
How dare He heal upon the Sabbath
‘By what authority do you do these things?’
they demanded
He flashed a brilliance
Within His Eyes
That smote them sore,
Who is this Man?
They pondered
And then with devastating erudition
Quoting the very Word by which they intended
to convict Him
His gaze took in every man
Every Rabbi
Every Scribe
Every Pharisee
“’ I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion,
says The LORD’”
They bristled with indignation
What?
Is He mad?
Is He deranged?
He likens Himself to The Most High!
No! Shouted another
It is worse!
He has quoted the Scriptures
He saith that He IS The Most High!!
They dared not move.
In an instant, His Deity flashed
And was gone
He left them
They signed His death warrant
And unwittingly thereby
Brought Salvation to all
Good Friday | Guten Freitag
There is much traffic
in the Estuary tonight
as the smog alights
and casts its net
upon the coastline.
The heavy smell of cordite,
or is it scrap metal,
from the Huskisson
or Canada Docks
on the Port of Liverpool?
The mighty Fort George
lies at anchor,
its conning towers
capped by the smoggy yellow;
late night revellers
looking in bags and pockets
for their Ventolin inhalers.
The ducks and geese
are loud
in the basin below
the window
where earlier sat
one seagull
eyeing food
on the coffee table.
The ship’s engines
now just a distant hum
another ship approaching,
shimmering lights,
a trawler,
behind it a flotilla
heading upstream
to Ellesmere Port.
A super-tanker
tugs
to port and stern
another on the bow,
the length of
Waterloo Warehouse
on
Waterloo Dock!
Pier Head stands empty
yet bathed in lights,
Her Majesty’s Canadian
Warship
slips quietly
its moorings
late, late evening
on Maundy Thursday.
The great clock
on the Liver strikes
One passed the hour. . .
and despite the smog
a pleasant night.
Recollections of
another darkness.
A spiritual pollution.
A different smog.
A Universe gasped!
A Host gazed in
hapless awe,
forbidden to intervene
Salvation bore the stripes
yielded opened hands
yielded crossed feet
to spite-driven nails
of fallen man
A Crown of Thorns
With a deathly hush
rushed
the powers of darkness
ever so briefly in as Salvation yielded. . .
My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?
… momentary victory!
… … such savouring!!
… … … They knew they had their victory!!!
Without warning
THE Universal Declaration. . .
exploding them
to a trillion atoms
It is finished!
An unnatural darkness
descending
at three past the hour.
And the earth quaked
And graves reopened
And those lying dead
some five hundred or more,
walked again
the streets of Jerusalem.
Death is swallowed up
in victory.
… and as it is written …
And the powers of darkness
look to their defeated leader,
bereft,
And know at last with certainty
that after times, time
and half a time
they will one day
live eternally in oblivion
. . .
beyond the pale . . .
where even the comfort
of death defies them.
… again, as it is written …
IMAGINE!
Written Liverpool Good Friday, 22 April 2011
And On the Third Day | Und am Dritten Tag
WHAT?!? He is Risen?
What do you mean He is risen?
Explain yourself!
Your Excellency
The body is not there!
But I had guards posted
Bring them to me
I will hear from them
They are fearful
And so they should be!
Was not a stone rolled across the entrance?
Yes Your Excellency
Then how can the body be gone?
How can my own Guard
be overcome by thieves?
Your Excellency
These were no thieves
Then what?
Men, yes!
But glowing.
An incredible light and a countenance
about them
that left the guards panic-struck
One said as if they had
come down from on high.
What?
He said that?
Yes Your Excellency
Pilate pondered…
casting his mind back
to that dark day three days ago
In his anger he had threatened the Man
And the Man, bloodied and torn
Replied with a conviction, an utterance,
A look that pierced
that seemed to him
To be almost deified
“Do you not realise
That I have only to summon
And twelve legions of angels
Will come down to My aid?”
It had frightened him at the time
Now he knew the Man was true!
He spoke quietly to his aide
I should have listened to my wife
I washed my hands of it...
I wish to hear no more of this
I do not wish to see the guards
Do not threaten them
Leave them be
Your Excellency
A delegation awaits you
The High Priest and the
leaders of the Pharisees
No. I wish to have no more
Tell them I have seen their Rabbi
Yes!
Tell them…
I have seen the Great High Priest!
Now leave me…
And in the quiet of the evening hour
Pontius Pilate
Governor of all Israel
Communed not with gods
But with The Most High
And knew Salvation
IT ENDS
PART I
And tell Me.
What have you been doing?
This one knew when he
could not play god
but he’d stand his ground anyway...
Lucifer
The light bearer
Fallen.
Fallen?
No way.
Oh but yes.
Fallen and but for a time
allowed his pre-eminence,
his authority.
Not for the moment
did he slither through grass
and keep the contours of the rocks
and hide in the crevices... ...
That comes later.
For now,
time, times
and time again
he can masquerade
even as a minister of righteousness
if the fancy takes him.
But here he keeps his place
Here he does not hold court
he is not a king
or even a prince,
except of darkness.
I’ve been wandering to and fro
across the Universe...
This fallen angel
bristles with indignation
at the shower of derision,
loathing,
contempt even,
of the Host of Heaven.
Alone here,
he catches a brief and momentary
glimpse
of his eternal damnation.
Have you considered My servant...?’
He only worships You
because of what he has,
give me authority
and I will show You
what he really is,
I will lift up
his corrupted heart
Very well.
But you shall not lift a finger
against him personally,
you shall not touch him... ...
PART II
And satan walked
the earth that day.
Black became white
White became black
Natural was unnatural
Unnatural revelled
in the cloak of naturalness.
The fallen host
one third all told
did the bidding
of their master, stricken.
The index rose
The FTSE fell.
Like FDR’s elastic band,
the market boomed
and then went bust,
and thwacked a million
lives
and ransacked fifty million more... ...!
And satan walked the earth
with glee
observing the disorder,
the chaos revered,
and counted the souls
he’d won in the process.
And he would break
the human spirit
and prove his kingship,
his absolute authority.
It may have been a match too far
to be thrice thwarted
by the Son of Man
but that was two millennia ago.
Mere humans would not
dare defy him,
everyone would bow the knee to him,
exalt him,
and declare him
‘The Most High’
... and even the thought of
assuming that title
convulsed him without warning,
and his fallen host
across the Milky Way
shrank back
dejected
– their lord and master -
powerless! ... ...;
a fallen being,
a quivering wreck,
that only by His Grace
maintained his beauty
before the fall.
PART III
And satan walked the earth that day
pitching sons against fathers
mothers against daughters
sibling rivalries now his speciality,
wars and insurrections
his elevenses!
Pitch religions against each other,
strike at modernity
with medieval viciousness,
behead Caucasians,
four-quarter rebellious Muslims
in four directions
from a standing start.
Bring down Flight 636;
overturn the
Herald of Free Enterprise.
Bomb the heart out of
Manchester
Enniskillen
Iraq
Baghdad
and Pakistan;
Paris,
and London and
Westminster bridge ... ...
Strike at Somalia,
provoke North Korea
whisper into the ears
of despotic generals
in the hours of the night
beneath mosquito nets
slumbering and slouching
on fat bellies,
then awakening;
issuing orders for a
spot of further ethnic cleansing.
Bring spite into households
bring death into schoolrooms
deliver innocents to corrupt officials
who in turn
release the guilty hardened criminals
and see no wrong
in reversing the status quo.
PART IV
And satan walked the earth that day
through boardrooms
and stock exchanges
and watched the money markets
spiral out of men’s control
and into his control;
passing by cash machines
ripped out of walls,
and loitering on the gloryholes
of adjacent walls
of dark and dingy
derelict buildings.
Hallowed chambers
revisited,
politicians riding cash bonanzas,
running up expenses,
and blinded by his
incandescent but dirty luminous light.
He is the light
I AM THE LIGHT BEARER
he bellowed through the heavens;
‘you are the light bearer’
the fallen host
and benighted souls
fawned in shrieks
bending the knee
and bowing the neck.
This is mine
All mine
These are mine
I am the ruler
of the universe...
I will be like the
Most High... … … … … …
but he convulsed again
no warning given,
and spewed
venom blood and guts
in endless torrent
and shook in
epileptic rage
Time was not his
and time was running out;
how could it be
that he would lose
all that he had created?
PART V
A Still Small Voice
whispered
and the Host of Heaven
more than the myriad
stars of Heaven
gave the
Glorious Proclamation.
‘Created? you are created!
you re-create distorted images,
the limit of your authority.
And even that is governed
By He Who is greater than you,
your Creator against Whom
you dared to rebel
and when time again thus passes
you shall be no more
but forever conscious
in oblivion.
you were light but now
are impenetrable darkness;
there is no advance for you
darkness by the very laws of nature
yes – your Creator – gives
way to Light.
you the light-bearer
dared to think you could
seize The Light
and fell to earth
like a lightning strike
and sealed your fate.
Will we, His Creation,
Go with you?
Some yes
But many won’t.
For you demand to be recognized
as the bearer of light
and to be The Light itself.
Such arrogance
catches even the very breath
of this incomprensible Multiverse.
But you cannot create!
All you can do is to re-create
to copy, to mirror, to pretend.
But I know one Who can create;
And He has only to speak,
and it is!
“Let there be light
and there was light”
as it is written!
PART VI
And satan walked the earth
that day hell-bent on revenge
‘How dare His Word be uttered
In my presence – I Lucifer the Light-bearer
the god of this world!’
The thought beat through
his created brain,
and so he wrought
havoc in recession;
banks crashed,
buildings toppled,
towers descended
and planes blew up.
Blackmailers abounded
Hackers quadrupled
Horrid people
Wicked people
Detestable people
wrought havoc
and held sway.
Cyber-warfare profligated
governments brought down,
elections thwarted and bent his way ... ...
Families smashed up furniture
for warmth
trading gold for a matchbox.
And satan walked the earth
from the southern States of the
USA
to the royal States of Australia
laying waste to Melbourne
and destroying Victoria.
And he revelled in
Black Friday
as stock markets crashed
and for his evening cocktail
took Black Saturday bushfires
in South Eastern Australia.
Outside time,
he raged across the heavens
creating mayhem,
disorder,
murder,
pillage.
PART VII
In China and India and now Nepal
In Katmandu
measuring 7.9 on the
Richter Scale
Then for good measure
stood astride Iran and Iraq
and split asunder
then blew up a Mosque
in Egypt for fun
On Everest, he flicked his finger
Avalanches wiping out all in their path
Such wanton destruction...
he shook the earth’s foundations
Accounts dried up
Debt management companies
multiplied by the hour
bonus and incentive schemes
piled ever more on
tortured souls of innocent debtors
creditors grew in hostility,
spite his natural way
of oiling up their dried-up consciences.
Dog eat dog was his order
of his day, his precursor,
his reason for existence ...
PART VIII
And satan walked
the earth that day
and spit his horror
at righteous people
but covered himself on the rebound;
the heat shields of
faith, love and
unconditional kindness
he could not penetrate,
as debts were paid
without interest or repayment,
or creditors took payment in kind
to ease the burden
of those wrong-footed
by this ugly apparition
PART IX
And satan walked the earth
that day
and whispered misinterpretation
of hallowed Scriptures
into the ears of narrow-minded ministers,
scribes, khalifs, imams, mullahs
and ayatollahs.
PART X
And satan walked the earth
that day
from Bosnia, Croatia
to Kosovo via Serbia;
to Georgia and Chechnya
Iraq
Iran
Afghanistan
and Syria
And then his prize
his jewel in his crown
Jerusalem
back to his relentless struggle
on that day
in Aeons past
when he soothed
his words in Eden
‘you will not surely die!’
And Eve relented
and succumbed to his advances
and learned the art of manipulation;
and then his greatest triumph of all
a family squabble
pitching Isaac against Ishmael
two brothers who would carry
their feud down the ages
and many millennia away.
Death, destruction and
endless familial rape
based upon nothing more
than allegory,
a non-existent happening
PART XI
And satan walked the earth
that day
delighting in taking myth and half-truth
and interweaving
in such a way
in a labyrinth of intrigue
that silly minds then raised
to the hallowed utterances of Deity
and declared, for good measure,
to be the incontrovertible
word of a god
And for those who mused
he sought out his new agenda
fake news and cast his net wide
without limit
and skewered the minds
of guilty and innocent alike
PART XII
And satan walked the earth
that day
until suddenly summonsed
by Queen Esther
to attend the Court of the Most High
Ancient of Days...
his Creator
and he sensed the shadow
'of that wicked Haman'
stalking him
The end was upon him
and in a momentary absence,
a loss of self-control,
he writhed through the grass
and slithered over the rock face
and espied a crevice
wherein sat its occupant incubating;
his forked tongue lashed out
and, anaconda like,
engulfed and slept
and sensed the nightmare
of endless conscious oblivion.
PART XIII
… he awoke with a start,
his deity briefly restored
and entered the Chamber
but dared not look
at The Light
“And where have you been?”
‘Oh wandering to and fro
throughout the earth...’
“And have you considered
My servant...?”
he would not answer
rebellious
evil
the hourglass emptied
defeated ... ... ...
and on his belly
he departed... ...
And Lucifer stood before Them
A temporary Renewal, invigorated, breathing ...
Why am I here?
I rebelled against You
No. In your thoughts and dreams
in your nightmares you resisted Me
and sought to be like Me
It is understandable to be like Us
It is understandable to even usurp Us
Worry not
We do not destroy that or those
that We create
That is not in our nature
PART XIV
Lucifer, We are the Triune G-D
Three In One
You are as you always have been!
Use this brief sojourn
into die holle auf erden
to help humankind...
that is all that is required of you
Salvation is assured
and way, way beyond Verständnis
Our ways are beyond finding out
or even reasoning;
Our means, unique.
Embrace Life
Embrace Eternity
And Lucifer walked the earth that day
his Companion, Salvation
That nightmare now just a vicious
memory and which ended with
that awesome Proclamation
that resounded
through the Multiverse
way, way, way beyond this tiny Universe
IT IS FINISHED
Es ist vollbracht
C'est fini
Он закончил
يتم الانتهاء من ذلك
זה נגמר
यह समाप्त हो गया है
29 March 2024
All Rights Reserved
LIVERPOOL
© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Digital Artwork © 2024 KTW © 2024 IBM unless otherwise credited.
The main image is a detail from the celebrated study depicting a crucifixion by
This Version was arranged on 4 September 2022
Author Note
This is not a reflection of where I stand in 2024. I have come to despise every aspect of religion when I note what is done even to this day in its name. And this most definitely ensnares the three monotheistic religions or faiths. I tread a centrist path. I always have done and always will do. I might steer slightly, ever so lightly to the left on occasion, and similarly to the right. Yet to the discerning eye observing the course of the ship, only the ship’s wake would testify to an ever so light veer now and again.
KTW
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.