Five Counterfactuals

Lukas Bacho

(A fresco at the Yale University Art Gallery
after Matthew 14:22–36)

If we had lived in the border city of Dura-Europos
before it was looted by the Islamic State, before
it was buried by centuries of sand, before its people
were deported by the Sasanians in 256 A.D.,
we might have been baptized in the house-church there.
Behind the font we would have seen this wall painting
of Christ on water, his hand outstretched
to your namesake—no Byzantine fanfare, just figures on plaster.
We might have met his likeness in candlelight.
Even now, in a gallery lit by electric bulbs,
I have no trouble imagining why his disciples cried, “Ghost!”
If you were with me, you would feel this shiver
of water on your scalp. You too would find yourself
caught by the hand.

Lukas Bacho is a junior in Yale College. He was born and raised in San Francisco, California.

ABOUT THE ART | Observance by Ethan Estrada, 2023. Ethan Estrada is a student at Yale University.