11th January 2014

Sonnet 67

Momentoes mori in ceramic live

On my mantelpiece with impiety,

Small monuments  3D printers achieve

For top to bottom of society;

Let us stroke our dearly departed's cheek,

Digitally rendered magenta hue,

Text RIP condolences we seek -

Sad predictive tributes don't keep us true.

Once we've lost our plastic looks, the choice is

To struggle on with ever bigger veins

Or...end it.  Back to earth, give God  what's his,

Make some space for world population gains.

    Dust to dust  in miniature, what you had,

     Hey it's no Hilliard,* but it's not bad!


*Nicholas Hilliard 1547 - 1619.  Known for his miniatures of members of the court of Elizabeth 1.  "The central artistic figure of the Elizabethan age...The only English painter whose work reflects, in it's delicate microcosm, the world of Shakespeare's earlier plays."