John Watson Nicol, British
Great Moment in Phallic Fool-ic Portraiture, 1895
Oil on canvas
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MASTERPIECE #3296
Info about this artist is pointed to by links in my comment at another blog entry.
/// Here at Elsinore, he’s the Court Jester,
but King Hamlet told him to sequester.
Most think Yorick’s a riot
but, the fool can’t deny it—
the Queen doesn’t. He’d never impressed her.
/// Cold Queen Gertrude would crudely attack
how her child and the jester would yak.
There was something amiss
in how often they’d kiss,
when he bore the young Prince on his back.
/// The Queen claimed her naive only son,
to repeat smutty gibes had begun.
And he’d often fall down,
landing hard on his “crown,”
from those “piggyback” rides meant as fun.
/// Within Elsinore some spread a rumor—
which, if true about Gertrude, would doom ‘er.
Yorick joked that he saw
her with brother-in-law.
Turns out Gertrude had no sense of humor.
/// By the Fall, that fool Yorick was dead.
Should have heeded what King Hamlet said.
With a shovel some knave
dug the court jester’s grave,
and interred first his body, then head.
/// A red coxcomb envelops his skull,
but compared to most fools Yorick’s dull.
He’d debate with them hotly
whether all red or motley
will best energize rather than lull.
/// This red outfit he wears for his shows.
Tiny silver bells sewn on in rows
make a bright merry sound
when the jester’s around,
for he tinkles wherever he goes.
/// There’s a small jester’s head on his staff,
which he wields to make light of a gaffe.
But if that won’t suffice,
there’s another device.
It’s a feather to force folks to laugh.
/// He’s admiring his favorite marotte.
It’s the first one that he ever got.
Doesn’t look much like him,
(purchased it on a whim),
but to part with it, this fool will not.
// Since marottes do not have moving parts,
they’re not sparked by a puppeteer’s arts.
A fool’s scepter, (or mace),
waved in listener’s face—
with a silly “voice”— wins people’s hearts.
/// Yorick studied well at Jester’s School,
and was funny year round, as a rule.
But when Springtime had sprung,
a classmate known as Bung,
jeered at Yorick, and called, “April Fool!”