Here is David
perfect symbolism
liberated from
the whitest marble
by the surest hand
power embodied
Renaissance
Florence
and most of all
ruthless rulers
House of Medici
patrons of the artist
But where is Goliath?
David gazes over
his left shoulder
serene of body
worried eyes searching
as imperfection approaches
not symbolic but real
A thick band of cement
reattaches the left forearm
a thinner crack
circles the left wrist
David dismembered
by a motley mob
counter-power embodied
a darker story
written on
the whitest body
— Galleria dell’Accademia, Firenze, Italy