Another Still Life

Painting by Chardin -  A Rabbit, Two Thrushes and Some Straw on a Stone Table

by Jude Goodwin

The window's open darling,
smell the wild winds, see how the
reddening sumac twists at dusk.
The world is a chaos of orange
and gamboge, the bush is alive,
the maple leaves jump and startle
like rabbits. Run rabbit -
leap the gate, you'll never be young
again. Age moves in from the north
and whitens the patch on gardeners' mountain.
Run to the river, along the mud trails,
thump your warning in the grasses, the aspen
are bending. It's a savage rain
that soaks the goatskin, washes wine
from your thin lips, leaves drops
on the bedclothes like payment.
At the end of day you’ll be lying on a stone table
with some straw
and two cold thrushes
resting against your dead belly. 

(Based on a painting by Chardin -  A Rabbit, Two Thrushes and Some Straw on a Stone Table )