‘The Living Thinking on the Dead’ by Alberdi Ucwese

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)

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