ARTMUSING POETRY
We of the Garden
Three Poems in Triptych
Following is a triptych of three poems responding to “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch.
We watch in awe
as birds, black and sharp as blades,
spiral through the oculus of the tower,
a swirling swarm set to slice
the world to ribbons. We gasp as the opening
stretches, allowing more and more
of the birds in, a tide too great
to dam. It looks like an eye, we say,
watching the black bodies of the birds
pour through the hole — too much like
a pupil bursting, overcome
by all it has witnessed and cannot unsee.
The eye stares down at us, seeping
a flock of winged tears, and we stare back,
our own eyes wide and itchy. We feel
something on the inside, something scratching —
and we want to slide our lids closed
like a door. But we dare not. What
might be released when we open them again?
