On the painting “Le berges d’Arcadie” by Nicolas Poussin
The rugged mountains in the distance stand beyond,
above the three, young shepherds and the shepherdess,
who gather round a tomb that they have come upon,
inscribed: ET IN ARCADIA EGO. They rest.
The man in blue is tracing letters carefully,
his shadow cast upon the tomb’s stone-hard address.
The four are poised, and statuesque, not airily;
they contemplate it diff’rently. The man in red
is pointing too, and he looks almost fearfully.
The woman rests her hand upon his back; her head
looks downward, like the man in white, whose arm rests on
the tomb. They are the living thinking on the dead…
[as I am too, here in Arcadia, oh, gone!]
Alberdi Ucwese is a poet enamored by the Renaissance in Italy and classical Italian painting, in
particular. His literary influences include, inter alia, Dante, Tasso, Ariosto, Bembo, Michelangelo, and da
Vinci.
Featured Image: “Le berges d’Arcadie” by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1695)
