28.v.22
875
3.148
a curse we can’t translate
ekphrastic for Phillips Fox’s 1895 ‘The Desert Market’
in the Hinton Collection at NERAM
how here?
and who can see?
hill high walled
place is a fortress
spies first
now oils
who do we see?
how will they feel
to be in the picture?
the faceless, disembodied
blur tribes daubed
town of turban white and veils
each a tent
a hopeless little desert wisp
chaos of olive green to centre
someone has come by camel
from crescent till full till crescent again
their wares mere shapes
barely that
a wonder they’ve survived
arabesque of sky – rare jewel
if only one could tug this down
what cruel despot watches?
such an empire is all edge
things you’d never guess
keep saying the war is over
but here we are agains
see from portal dark
scene framed in a fading gilt
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