Supper with Leo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

This poem is taken from my gay-interest blog archives for December 2012. Readers are welcome to explore the archives of either or both blogs; they are listed on the lower right hand side of blog entries.

When he was twenty-four years old, Leonardo Da Vinci was arrested, along with several young companions, on a charge of sodomy. No witnesses appeared against them and the charges were dropped. Renaissance Florentines didn't make the distinctions we make about sexuality today. Apparently, it was not uncommon for young men to get into sexual relationships with each other.

Leonardo had no known relationships with women, never married, had no children, and raised many young protégés, including one nicknamed "Salai" which means "offspring of Satan. Salai was generally thought to be something of a rascal. Salai stayed with the painter for over twenty years and appears many times in Leonardo's sketchbooks.

It’s interesting (to say the least) just to speculate that one of the greatest painters of all time may well have been homosexual. At the same time, why should a person’s sexuality even matter?

Those Renaissance Florentines had the right idea and no mistake.

This poem is a villanelle.

SUPPER WITH LEO 

A great painting,

like supper with a friend,

says everything

Eating, drinking,

living, loving without end;

a great painting

Promising, denying,

sharing wine with a friend,

says everything

Giving, taking,

those trying hours we spend;

a great painting

Believing, disbelieving

what’s seen, heard to the end,

says everything

Passion, suffering,

though death, too, a friend;

A great painting

says everything

[From: A Feeling For The Quickness Of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005]