Rohan Buettel: The Green Parasol and Fortuna’s Wheel
The Green Parasol
(After the painting by E. Phillips Fox)
The nineteenth century still lingers on
In summer 1912, a wicker chair
A Brisbane girl in Paris c’est si bon
The filtered sunlight tints her auburn hair
And all is peaceful green, it bathes her face
Her hands, her skin, the trees, the garden bed
The creamy dress a shroud with verdant lace
The flowers white and pink and poppy red
She sits so calm, relaxed, untroubled there
Upon her lap she strokes her little dog
Her lustrous beauty shines through limpid air
A sunlit joy before the yellow fog
For few short years remain to live this way
Bloody carnage will blast this world away
Rohan Buettel
Fortuna’s Wheel
(After the painting “Wheel of Fortune” by Edward Burne-Jones)
You lift us high, decide our fate
Fortuna driving with her hand
Then crush us low beneath your weight
The slave in chains in lofty state
He has achieved all that he planned
You lift us high, decide our fate
The king with crown and sceptre great
Is now…
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