When the Christians went down to the waters to be born again, they left behind the pale elders of the old testament on the walls around, like the black and white film of their former lives; and their eyes, when they opened again, looked up at the twelve apostles holding out jeweled crowns and Peter and Paul with their scrolls and keys, beckoning to the purple cushioned throne, now theirs; since they have given themselves to the holy one who stands just above them, between Neptune, old spirit of the river, and the stern Baptist in his wild skins, under the dove claiming him redeemer God, in the rippling water through which they see him naked, his manhood floating proud, just like theirs.
Kathryn Southworth is the former Vice-Principal of Newman University College, Birmingham. Now retired, she lives in Camden Town, London.