An ekphrastic poem inspired by Francisco de Goya’s Black Paintings, c. 1819-1823 – Goya, Witches Sabbath (El gran cabrón), 1821-23, Museu Nacional del Prado, Madrid
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Goya Dining at “La Quinta del Sordo”
………..Everyone called it “The House of the Deaf Man”
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Draperies cover your painted walls
for fear of the Inquisition’s eyes.
Each night, your servants unveil
the scenes that accompany
your candlelight supper.
.
Do you rejoice in watching
the wavering flame stretch faces
and shadows, adding depth
to the grotesque figures?
.
The Sabbath witches’ whispers
only you can hear,
reach you
through your deafness.
.
No longer “el sordo,” your eyes
sense every complaint, every motion,
the grinding of Saturn’s teeth
devouring his son’s limbs,
.
the brittlest cracked bone
echo your own munching
on a drumstick.
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Is it that only the half tones
cast by Promethean flames
enable you to confront the real face
of war, famine and greed?
.
Night after night you defy intolerance,
revel in a distorted vision
of your somber thoughts.
.
For if seen in broad daylight,
as would Dorian Gray in later years,
facing his secret portrait’s transformation,
you might die of shame.
Goya’s country house, La Quinta del Sordo (House of the Deaf Man), which he had purchased in 1819
Photo: La Quinta del Sordo, c. 1900, Courtesy La Druida de Madrid
Tags: Contemporary Poetry, Egon Schiele, Ekphrastic, Erotic, Erotic Poetry, Essayist, Goya, Hedy Habra, House of Deaf Man, La Quinta del Sordo, Madrid, Poet, Poetics, Scholar, Spain, Spanish Art
