any bird, bound or free
The Wayfarer, by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500
Art today is from Hieronymus Bosch (1450 - 1516), Dutch painter of fantastical and often hellish allegories. His paintings are very busy, even this one (see detail below). So much then that could be said, but I stopped at fourteen lines, for a sonnet of sorts. Advice for a Wayfarer Bid the cage welcome, rusting as you pass, the leaky barrel, shattered glass, the shutter dangling, canine mange even, pissing poltroonery, the benighted roofless, their ruthless importunity, all tumble-down tumidity. For I know you know to take the rain, your fill, only from the dawn, flame from the hard earth dew. Shillelagh and blade are true; your ladle, awl, they’ve served you well, and will; though fowl and swine gorge, leave only dust, mud and grime, don’t turn askance; look there too for the real— any bird, bound or free by circumstance, may sing. The way is more than one for you or me to go: skin a cat, beat the path; unhoof a stag, or doe. first published in a slightly different form in The Ekphrastic Review, June, 2019
A survival poem with an awl to poke new eye holes in worn leather shoes sole . Bosch vision is seen today homeless wayfarers walking with a mangy dog their only friend just trying to eek out a livelihood in a land of plenty.
A poem Bosch would have written if he was a poet. This is the painting. Brava!