Over the past two years I've written quite a bit of ekphrastic poetry: which is poems about art, or poetry based on works of art. I have a few of these forthcoming in various journals now and perhaps, some day, I'll have enough of these to create a book. Don't know who would read it, but I enjoy writing them.
Here's one of my ekphrastic poems--a sonnet--based on a 16th century painting of Elizabeth I by Nicolas Hilliard (1585).
Portrait of Elizabeth I by Nicolas Hilliard, 1585
The lighted window, glazed with leaded glass,
Secludes the realm of wealth and circumstance
In palace walls devoid of any glance
Of faint attachments to the broad expanse
Of lands and commerce where her subjects pass.
A golden sword rests on the blackened throne,
An ermine, white and eager, climbs her sleeve
As if her Highness, removed and naive,
Could stir a grateful nation to believe
That she was worthy of the world they own.
The portrait, cold and austerely serene,
Reveals the common love of pedigree
When every knee bows to pomposity
And worships rags if they be called a queen.
Here's one of my ekphrastic poems--a sonnet--based on a 16th century painting of Elizabeth I by Nicolas Hilliard (1585).
Portrait of Elizabeth I by Nicolas Hilliard, 1585
The lighted window, glazed with leaded glass,
Secludes the realm of wealth and circumstance
In palace walls devoid of any glance
Of faint attachments to the broad expanse
Of lands and commerce where her subjects pass.
A golden sword rests on the blackened throne,
An ermine, white and eager, climbs her sleeve
As if her Highness, removed and naive,
Could stir a grateful nation to believe
That she was worthy of the world they own.
The portrait, cold and austerely serene,
Reveals the common love of pedigree
When every knee bows to pomposity
And worships rags if they be called a queen.
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