Summer (Giuseppe Arcimboldo), Sonnet #417

My book of the first 200 of these sonnets is now available for purchase. Click here:
My Human Disguise.
















I live the burden of burgeoning life,

Beginning with dropping petals and seeds,

Ending with fruit and grain cleaved by the knife.

I live the engendering of my wife,

Though she hides from me in her stitched weeds,

Ever running and climbing, though gravid,

And when I catch her, laughing and avid.

I live the flight of kestrel and songbird,

Balance murderous capture and escape,

And keep the wolf from reducing the herd.

Sometimes they must settle for mouse or grape.

I live the rain’s basting the sun’s burning

My life until the last day’s turning

Changes all I’ve grown to ripened yearning.