Bacchus Brings Her, by Taunja Thomson

Venus Frigida, by Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish), 1614.

Bacchus Brings Her

Bacchus brings her blue-violet bunches
from a landscape teeming 
with patina’d clouds.
Trees bend around her
but their bare bark offers
no protection against wind.
She crouches    no cave    no pelt
no warmth.
He brings her leopard skin
and nectar.
He brings her to a cave
steaming with warm 
waters.
He shelters her 
under his shaggy brow
licks his lips
and scatters grapes like amethysts
on a dry floor.

​Taunja Thomson
​
This poem was written for the 20 Poem Challenge.

Taunja Thomson: "My poetry has most recently appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic and will be featured in the September 2016 issue of Halcyon Days.  Two of my poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Award:  “Seahorse and Moon” in 2005 and “I Walked Out in January” in 2016.  I have co-authored a chapbook of ekphrastic poetry which has recently been accepted for publication and have a writer’s page at https://www.facebook.com/TaunjaThomsonWriter"