Wednesday 2 March 2016

Last Things


The night expires. The last breath drawn
a mist that fades from the mirroring lawn.
I stoop to catch his words out of hearing :
A riddle? A task for his Lady’s proving?

           The Knight expires without an answer.
           Only the hieroglyphs of the snails. Only death.
           Only mene, mene, tekel, upharsin
           in lithic spittle written upon the path.


(Detail) Annonciation et Nativité
by Francesco del Cossa, 1470.
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.


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