Seraphine Louis de Senlis
poor love
those camel squeezers
who gave you a chunk of cheese
as payment for your beautiful work
bathed in the Almighty's glow
will be roasting in the fires of hell
for eternity by now - hopefully
they always suspected
the joy in one second of your precious life
could never be attained or imagined by them
so they destroyed you for it which is their way
you made them feel very uncomfortable Seraphine
Dangereuse Seraphine
Brilliante Seraphine
madame must have loosened her corsets
when you were about
the very idea of you could bring on an attack of the vapours
servants are not supposed to outshine their masters
Chapeau Cherie!
i could touch the glee in the last 2 lines of the first stanza and the natural anger in the last line of the poem...like your view...
ReplyDeleteServants are not supposed to outshine their masters!
ReplyDeleteThat line says it all so well. You have really considered this story from its revolutionary viewpoint.
I love how you've mixed in French in there and it's still perfectly readable in English! Very lovely poem!
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad that you took on this aspect of her story, and illuminated the class division, and how meaningless and artificial it really is, so well. She was richer than those biddies could ever begin to be.
ReplyDeleteBravo! Bursting with recognition of what she was and who surrounded her--the anger comes through along with a sort of apology and a bit of humor. I envy her despite her suffering. What of that!?
ReplyDeleteNo apology here...irony and the third finger salute !
DeleteSome people are special and should be treasured and cared for. Seraphine was inspired and the world exploited her and cast her aside.
ReplyDeleteOutshine them she did...and so did you!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the whole town made fun of her - and yet she really did outshine them! Her artwork was a bit "new" style so I wonder they even recognized her genius…
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