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
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Interesting. There is a lot to take in with this one.
Well done, Alan! Love the internal rhymes you've managed!