December 26 -- Jerry Garcia

I Found My Friend Richard In A Painting from the 17th Century
After Jacob Duck's Street Scene with Knife Grinder and Elegant Couple c.1655

In coral tones of sunset
and nobility
stands the elegant couple
of Utrecht
gazing with circumspect
sneers.

The master craftsman, flamboyant
in burgundy and green,
leans against his stone wheel
taking pause from the day's toil
to roll eyes and groan                                                                       

at the riff-raff cast into coppered shadows.
Darkened figures of scoundrels
hold court among fishmongers
and butchers.
Porcelain-faced girls laugh,
an old woman raises a boney finger
while a crooked-mouth prankster
jeers.

My friend, Richard,
ruddier than usual
in this 17th century tableau,
stares deeply into my eyes

as he would often do.
His puckish grin punctuates
what I already know.
The secret of his time travel
must be ours to keep.

Jacob Duck "Street Scene with Knife Grinder and Elegant Couple"   http://collections.lacma.org/node/232605