Titian's "Venus of Urbino" on New Year's Eve [by David Lehman]

New Year’s Eve  

Champagne and a ribeye, that’s the ticket,
Beethoven’s string quartet in C# minor,
and good riddance to the plague year.
The mind can provide, provide,
and theories will continue to propose
themselves in politically incorrect seminars
in which ardent young men declare
the whole study of aesthetics may be
divided between Titian’s “Venus of Urbino”
and the fashion industry.  Nor is it just
a luxury, this taste for delicacies, this
indulgence in beauty for its own sake,
these academic escapades and linguistic
adventures that may eventuate in
a poem of delight, desired and deserved.

-- David Lehman (from Commonweal)

Above: Titian's "Venus of Urbino" at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

Comments

[David Schloss]

The last line is a fine self-description of this witty meditation,

[Mary Morris]

Bravo!

[Kyril Alexander Calsoyas]

A Trip Around the Sun

Here he is where the journey began,
A year ago, or so it would seem,
Definitely a well-cultured man,
Steak and champagne he will eat, not beans?

He circled the sun, a triumph indeed,
Yet questions of aesthetics remain,
Masking real desires to plant his seed,
On forbidden Venus’ fertile plain,

A year of a life, make no mistake,
Leads to moral concerns without fail,
Relishing “beauty for its own sake,”
The devil eating its own spiced tail.

[David Lehman]

Dear David: Many thanks for the compliment. Kyril: I'm glad you were inspired to write your poem