"Paid by my lord, one portrait, Lady Anne, full length,
with bird and landscape, twenty pounds and framed withal.
I say received. Verelst."
So signed, the painter bowed, and took his leave.
My lady Anne smiled in the gallery,
a small grave child, dark-eyed, half turned to show
her five bared toes beneath the garment's hem,
in stormy landscape in a swirl of drapes.
And, who knows why, perhaps my lady wept
to stand so long and watch the painter's brush flicker
between the palette and the cloth,
while from the sun-drenched orchard all the day
she heard her sisters calling each to each.
And someone gave, to drive the tears away,
that sulphur-crested bird with great white wings,
the wise, harsh bird -- as old and wise as Time --
whose well-dark eyes the wonder kept and closed.
So many years to come and still, he knew,
brooded that great, dark island continent, Terra Australis.
To those fabled shores not William Dampier, pirating for gold,
not Captain Cook, his westward course had set, jumped
from the longboat, waded through the surf, and clapt
his flag ashore at Botany Bay. Terra Australis, unimagined land
-- only that sulphur-crested bird could tell of dark men
silently moving through trees, of stones and silent dawns,
of blackened earth and the long golden blaze of afternoon.
That vagrant which an ear-ringed sailor caught
(dropped from the sky, near dead, far out to sea)
and caged and kept, till, landing at the docks,
walked whistling up the Strand and sold it then,
the curious bird, its cynic eyes half closed,
to the Duke's steward drunken at an inn.
And he lived on, the old adventurer, and kept his counsel,
was a sign unread, a disregarded prologue to an age.
So one might find a meteor from the sun,
or sound one trumpet ere the play's begun.
In a list
A contest entry
- Winklings and all AP friends. # 117 by Winklings Account.
3500 points, ended September 22, 8 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 7 of 7
-
Nice job ...
and congratulations on your shiny trophy.
-
-
Thank you so much ...
Good to see you!
-
-
This poem has done so well.
Remember, it is 'yours' only on this site!
I feel your lineation perfect.
In fact, I awarded this poem 97%.
-
-
Thank you so much for the Gold and the Coins.
It was a fun exercise, and I thank you.
Love
Myra
-
-
Excellent!
Love this poetic kiss of a writer's pen to paper!
All the best within the contest my friend!
-Timothy
-
O I loved this, my bird Jalalbad does too.
Your write is pleasent and suprising as all your writes are. This is the mark of a great writer
Good luck in contest.
-
-
Please note I did the rewritten free verse ...
structured by personal choice, and not the original, as prompt of this contest.
Thank you for reading, Judy.
-
Adding your comment:
1 - 7 of 7
