Today ….UpSkirt….but then the fantasy
of Libertines at play…
Libidinous, lascivious and dissolute.
O Priest…why art thou there
to send the swing so wild
and high into the floral air ?
Is this an earthly sort of prayer?
And high she flies in her Rococo hat,
the Damsel with femella charms,
luxuriant lacy swirls blow up
way past the ankle line
revealing more than is discreet,
A Satin shoe flies off.
The small dog yaps frenetically
as though all is amiss in this,
the Devil’s most licentious plot
Silence the Puttii says
Chubby cherubs don’t know what to think.
Amongst the flora full of heady scent,
His powdered wig intact…
The young beau lies…caught gazing up
into his lover’s sweet delights…
his cheeks blaze up aflame with lust…
Yet with his hat in hand
He reaches up as if to say…
No this must stop! Enough .
Enough. It’s more than I can stand.
Her satin shoe…where will it land?
Kristine Byrne 2019
The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard 1767