On the Board, by Jane Blanchard

Regentesses of the Amsterdam Orphanage, by Adriaen Becker (Netherlands) 1683

On the Board
  
It was an honour to be asked to serve
the city thus, to dress in finery
and sit with other matrons. If the verve
of such a portrait should be dignity,
the painter has done well, since now like then
distinction holds its own. Gowns are jet-black,
long, even layered, gauze or lace slipped in-
to proper places, often clasped. Slack
around the wrist or neck lie strands of pearls,
while specimens depend from every ear
surrounded by an ample set of curls.
Rings circle fingers of each volunteer
as staff hold cloaks or usher children through,
the latter’s tattered clothing well in view.

Jane Blanchard
​
This sonnet, first published in Snakeskin, is the work of Jane Blanchard, who lives and writes in Georgia (USA).  Jane’s latest collection with Kelsay Books is Never Enough Already (2021).