Poetry Forum

The Lady and the Unicorn


What about giving it a go? she asked,
and I did so. There were cherries of every kind
on the ceramic plate. There was fuchsia and Lady’s Slipper.
In this environment, I was overcome by wonder.
The sun was coming up. And in the deep ravine,
no dog bayed, though the birds sang out again.

Indoors, I dipped my pen in ink. The parquet flooring
spoke to my heart. The jug was sitting on the stand.
Though people were fast asleep, the lady and I were talking –
about Proust, about Pentecost, about the Indianapolis 500.
The walls were hung with tapestries, and they depicted
a lady and a unicorn. I’m not making this up.

Wild John! I like a tapestry and a parquet floor. Does that last sentence undermine the fantasy? I wondered if you could expand on the opulence...
https://poetryarchive.org/poem/waste-la ... game-chess


Bw

Phil

Hi Phil,

Glad you enjoyed it! This one does get pretty wild. ELoit certainly dials up the opulence to eleven - for me, there are simple things here too, like the jug. Here by the way is the lady: https://www.musee-moyenage.fr/en/collec ... icorn.html

Cheers,
John

What wonderful tapestries John.

Thanks Phil! They are the loveliest tapestries I know. They're hanging on a wall in Paris.

CHeers,
John

The attractions of the European domicile

Quite so! I was going to add that you are of course in Europe, being in Britain, but post-Brexit, that's less evident.

Cheers,
John