To the caregivers, in a time of pandemic
... believers ... brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that, at the least, the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
— The Acts of the Apostles (5:12-14)
Only Masaccio,
to sculpt the human form,
portrayed this story.
past three afflicted men,
his shadow touching each in turn —
so that one man has already
raised himself, stands straight,
sparsely clothed as an eremite,
is halfway up,
the third,
leans forward over his stick-like legs,
ready, with an awestruck look
to rise, any moment now,