The mute ox curses
its cracking knees, circling idly
the small patch of land.
The ploughman senses
his ailing wife’s end
is close at hand.
Running high on debt, low on luck,
the angler casts his hopeless hook.
The shepherd looks up to the skies
as the memories of a lost son
haunt him from within.
Suicidal is the captain
about his love’s unfaithfulness.
And life's bleakness seems to plague all
the passengers aboard that fine ship.
And old trees as ever lament
their dreary, dormant existence.
Sun, disheartened,
by the daily toil of rising and falling
is beyond doubt
burning itself out.
So, what of a man splashing about
in the calm waters?
Ekphrastic poem on the painting ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus', Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1558.
About the Author
Sacheth
Member Since: 07 May, 2022
Sacheth is a postgraduate in Creative Writing from the University of York, UK. He loves reading and writing fiction of realism, magical realism, and mystery genres. He is also a technical communications professional, and he has authored numerous tech...
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