Judith Sornberger 

Young Woman in a Niche with a Parrot and a Cage

— From the painting by Gerrit Dou, The Leiden Collection

She leans out her arched window,
holding the open cage, face framed
by downy, carnelian wisps
escaped from her coiffure,
blue-gray eyes wide as the April sky,
persimmon lips slightly parted as though
to sip some sweetness from the morning.

As yet no band circles the finger
on her hand where the sun-
glazed parrot perches in his lapis
iridescence—full of words
the woman’s taught him during
afternoons closed in together—balanced
now between safety and freedom.

What holds this woman to the ledge—
the luster of pearls clasped around
her throat? What if the parrot flies?
What if she follows? What if
the world offers unchartered colors?

Leiden Collection

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