Here it is. It might be a little much for some of you, sorry in advance. For the rest, see if you can guess what NT incident this concerns, and the NT characters which I haven't named...

Cassandra

She raised the fleece, once white, from the trough –
Dripping, – now Turkey red. The vat, filled
With the dark rich color of clotted blood,
Lately had swum with the viscera of creatures.
The white wool, stained, to her was not alarming.
It was the custom – White sheep for Apollo
Black for the nameless ones. Arms dyed to the elbows,
She stared into the trough – but no vision came.
The god had left her, auguries departed;
And yet she did not mind it.
“Cassandra” it had been
A name fit for this child, who did not know
Her own name; this dark, slender girl
Both knowing and ignorant, empty-eyed,
Silent when not possessed. She had brought silver
And gold to her masters through profitable trances.
But one day a foreigner had come into the market
Spoken a few words and the god had fled.
Then there had been an earthquake, and she
Had shuddered into awareness. Her new mistress
Required no prophecies; her trade was only
Colors – purple, Turkey red, indigo.
The blood of murex, cochineal and madder.
She strained to lift the heavy dripping wool.

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The man who is disposed to think of his sin as a great calamity, rather than as a heinous crime, is not likely either to reverence God or to respect His law. - John Kennedy, 1873
Meg
Blog
Member, Intown Presbyterian Church,PCA, Portland, OR

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Is that about Acts 16?

__________________
Andrew

Classy and classic!

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."

Yup.

Well done! Having the girl go to work for Lydia would have been an elegant solution indeed (and not on the face of it an improbable occurrence).

__________________
Ruben
Moderator
F.P.C.I.
Indiana

Vanities and disguises have covered us, and thereby we are naked; licenciousness hath inflam'd us, and thereby we are frozen; voluptuousness hath fed us, and thereby we are sterved, the fancies and traditions of men have taught and instructed us, and thereby we are ignorant.
John Donne

Board Rules - Signature Requirements - Suggestions?

Calvinistas Conversando
Teología en Mexico
The Howling Wilderness

Meg this is a truly beautiful poem. It kept running through my dreams last night; the way that she comes back in touch with reality at the end, even with feeling the weight of what she is holding as she works.

A question (which may be idiotic, but I made the association in my dream and wanted to ask): is the reference to 'Cassandra' being a fitting name for her a reference to the Cassandra of the Agamemnon story who had a vision of future things? ("I name this door the gate of Hades. Now I will go and knock; I will take heart to die.")

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Heidi
Indianapolis, Indiana

Patience must dwell with Love, for Love and Sorrow
Have pitched their tent together here:
Love all alone will build a house tomorrow,
And sorrow not be near. -Christina Rossetti

Yes, Heidi, she's named after Agamennon's Cassandra.

Very nice.