Day Six of NaPoWriMo.*

Today’s prompt asks us to
“write a poem from the point of view of one person/animal/thing from Hieronymous Bosch’s famous (and famously bizarre) triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.”

I used a different painting, Franz Marc’s “The Fox” for my poem, but with the same concept of using the subject’s point of view.

Here goes:

Outfoxed

As cities crumbled in disrepair,
we watched from forest shadows,
not understanding what forces cause
a species to implode.

As flora died in poisoned air,
we retreated into denser woods,
left to fathom such machinations
that place greed above survival.

With no place left to seek reprieve,
we huddled amidst brambles,
hiding from blind ignorance
that sought to take our lives.

And then the whole world shattered
into a million pieces.
We raised our heads to face our death,
and instead were met with

blue skies free from factory smoke,
waters clear as young fawns’ eyes,
fish emerging from the depths.
plants burgeoning in replenished soil.

We snuggled in comforted embrace
as nature reassembled,
as order rose from chaos
under Gaia’s healing eyes.

*National Poetry Writing Month, Day Six. Ekphrastic poetry