Theatre of Passions

Theatre of Passions

Conor Sweetman

Upon seeing the Passion Play at Oberammergau
Italicized lines are taken directly from the English translation of the play

Choir

Come, O Death!
Break the taste for blood
The death sentence is spoken!
That forever reversed the flood

Loud shall it echo through Egypt
That the plagues have done their work
You accept the Roman’s sentence
As the curtain’s torn and burnt

O golden image!
On whom our histories lean
Flee! Flee!
From this never waking dream

From the thorn’s radiant embers
They are much sharper than they seem
My heart is bleeding!
The frayed threads say “you are clean”

Scene

Between the ruin and renewed
Between the mythos and the modern
I see the severely saved
Between a curtain and an altar

In the sculpt of twisted flight
the gold lances the air
Where fire and laughter hang
Framing history’s flare

Fill the stage with movement 
Fill the well with tears
Lash the heart with doom
And hang the hope of years

Across the solemn stage
The sweet seconds of now
Unwind the wound of history
And ancient eternity is unbound

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Conor Sweetman
Editor & Creative Lead

Conor is the Editor of Ekstasis Magazine

Photography by Conor Sweetman