Perfidy, by Judith Brice

The Misanthrope, by Pieter Bruegel (Netherlands). 1568.

Perfidy

My dear leader, do not turn
away, can you not see
I am from the fields, my parents
and sheep behind me, working with toil
to task, with faith in hand--
I turn to you, beg you for your heart
for a few crumbs of bread, of love
of smile.

My Father, why so unkind?
Why so brusque and false? Why no delight?
I see only your back not your faith
nor kind spirit, but only your dark
robe that seeks out perfidy of world,
misanthrope of mind.

​Judith Brice

Judith Alexander Brice is a retired Pittsburgh psychiatrist whose love of nature, experiences with illness, and outrage over political issues has informed much of her work. Her over 50 published poems have appeared previously in The Paterson Literary Review, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Vox Populi, Versewrights, The Magnolia Review and Light, a Journal of Photography and Poetry, and more. One poem, "Questions of Betrayal," is part of the permanent collection of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, MI. Dr. Brice’s first book of collected poems, Renditions in a Palette, was published in 2013 by David Robert Books. Overhead From Longing, her second book, also by David Robert Books (Wordtech Communications), was published in August, 2018. One of the poems, "Mourning Calls" has been set to music by Michigan composer, Tony Manfredonia. Its performance, (Pittsburgh, PA, December, 2017 by Tuesday Musical Club) can be found at https://soundcloud.com/tony-manfredonia/sets/mourning-calls. Judy divides her time between Pittsburgh, PA and Petoskey, MI and delights in her life with her husband, poet Charles W. Brice, their substandard-standard poodle and two cats!