4 April

Day 4 

The physiology of birds

Whatever the prophecy, and its strange proportions,

one thing that Bosch got right was the physiology of birds.

Elsewhere, in the Renaissance, Man is the subject
or Man as the divine, templates and stencils and blueprints
for Madonna, child and angels,
golden rules and geometry of worship

No artist cares about the animals -
see the meme 'renaissance cats',
where they seem like strange chimaera,
paint daubs, shock-furred, all character, no art

Back to Bosch - I challenge any birdwatcher
not to identify the species that he paints,
live-eyed, smooth feathered, somehow benign
even with the duties they perform

Correct in every feather – kingfisher for hypocrite
Etiolate white storks for useless beauty,
Hoopoe for false worship, Robin bleeding from the heart for love,
the holy holy Goldfinch

The Duck that nests upon some sinner, feeding it with doubt
The Crow balanced on the foot of another, spitting red into the crowd
The Heron, sword beaked, fishing unbelievers,
The Tawny owl, the shade of moth wings, demon-sized

And Lucifer, dark feathered, with the sheened head of a Nightjar

Who doesn't pause to look up, keeps on feeding