Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Piero's Province

The quiet church, the stillness and the cool,

And the Battle of Heraclius and Chosroes,

My eye being cleverly conducted

Through the packed composition

By the angle of a horse’s head,

The tilt of a shield,a speartip...

All this order I struggle to encompass.

Outside, in the piazza, a young couple

Stroll past,kissing, eyes closed in kef;

They stumble yet stay upright.


On a hotel veranda in Sansepolcro,

As twilight seeps through,

I see Renaissance paintings emerge

From the landscape,and fade back-

Geometryand chaos in continual battle,-

And remember the pregnant Madonna,

Young beauty,eyes downcast,

So timid and sombre her mien,

Her fingertips lightly brushing

Her swollen belly,bearing her destiny

With exquisite resignation.

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