Workshop of David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl, Swedish
“Listen, This Place Is Nice, But We Need More Space. I Just Found a Cute Cumulonimbus on Cielo.com. Yes, Interest Rates Are in the Stratosphere, But We Can’t Let That Cloud Our Judgment Because in This Environment It’ll Probably Be Gone By Morning,” Date Unknown
Oil on canvas
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Info, or perhaps links that point to more info, about the named artist can be found here, and here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page (Google translated Swedish Wikipedia page has more).
/// They’re discussing the war with great fervor.
Perched upon a thick cloud we observe a
Roman god and a goddess
(in a tight armored bodice),
the half-siblings called Mars and Minerva.
/// Is that lipstick and rouge Mars is wearing?
No, he’s not known for that kind of daring.
Mars, the planet, is ruddy
because warfare is bloody.
His red lips and cheeks could be for scaring.
/// It so happens they’re both martial gods
who control warfare— what are the odds?
She’s strategic and wise,
he’s for fierceness and size,
so, at times, they support different squads.
/// Divine families back then were amoral.
Mars felt lust for his sis, but they quarrel.
They both backed different sides
in a war. What decides
which one loses and which wears the laurel?
/// The brave Trojans and Greeks fought for years,
mostly using swords, arrows and spears.
A large catapult might
fling huge stones in a fight,
but no cannons increased soldiers’ fears.
/// And yet, what is that object we see
just behind the war god’s upraised knee?
Since gunpowder’s not known,
missiles cannot be blown
at the foe with force explosively.
/// Wise Minerva knows cannons, of course,
but her Greeks would not win by brute force.
Clever plans were required.
She, Ulysses, inspired.
Her team built and deployed a wood horse.
/// They wear armor, but don’t seem to fight
in the wars down on Earth, so Man’s plight
is that prayers to his gods
will not increase the odds
that he’ll win, (or survive through the night).
/// Warfare’s unlikely ever to cease;
it resumes after every brief peace.
Since the Peloponnese,
mankind’s only surcease
is the certainty of death’s release.