Gerrit Dou, Dutch
Elderly Woman Reviewing the Ground Rules For Her Upcoming Bout With Jake Paul, ca. 1660-65
Oil on panel
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MASTERPIECE #3412
Info, or perhaps links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here, here, here, here, here, here (archived, if necessary), here, here (archived, if necessary), here, here, here, here, and here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page.
/// She is avid, this Old Woman Reading
a Book using pince-nez which she’s needing
to discern the fine print
in her Septuagint,
seeking loopholes. (For mercy she’s pleading.)
/// Having lived for a great many years,
far surpassing the last of her peers,
she recalls all her sins
and now ruefully grins.
Ancient pleasures have morphed into fears.
/// Her whole life has been wicked and coarse.
What she feels now is fear, not remorse.
Since she will not atone
to escape the brimstone
and fire, last hope’s that early Greek source.
/// Contemplating her life’s culmination,
she now thinks of her soul’s destination.
The lusts of her youth
and aversion to truth
may well merit eternal damnation.
/// Now that sins of the flesh leave her cold,
she repents her adultery of old.
But to make true amends
before earthly life ends
is a penance she’d rather withhold.