How the Siege of Bethulia Ended
Based on Judith and the Head of Holofernes (1901) by Gustav Klimt


Eyes still half-mast, she is escaping 
a desperate plunge into ecstasy and  bears 
the head of Holofernes, her husband’s slayer,
as she saunters from the general’s quarters, 
an orgy of gore behind her.

Breasts exposed, this widow wears 
a post-coital wash that appeared 
as Holofernes dismounted, 
fell back in drunken stupor.

The war-lord, general, exalted one
had not guessed that a beauty
who had whispered her desire 
to be ushered into his tent would conceal 
a butcher’s tool beneath silk.  
Holofernes only glanced perfunctorily 
at Judith’s necklace of beaten gold —
replica of the gated walls of Bethulia.

At this instant, the infants of her city 
still cry and rage as they suck 
at the withered teats of their mothers.
Within seconds corporals and guardsmen 
fall upon Judith, slay and dismember.

At dawn, the Assyrians break camp in disorder.
Water flows back beneath the fruited trees. 
The movement of water returns
like an anthem rising within 
the throats of Judith’s kinsmen.

In their sleep for years to come,
the murdering guardsmen dream
that they could not, even with her organs
running the tips of their blades, touch 
this woman who came toward them naked.
An icon of consummation, like flame, flame, flame;
as if their swords whipped wind through her form.