A day spent wandering galleries
connecting the dots across an array
of Western Art’s greatest hits, and all
I can think of now is a patch of triptych
by Hieronymus Bosch, not the central
scene, where Mary receives adorations
from the Magi in her youthful serenity,
frankincense and golden baubles strewn
at her feet, but high in the left panel, far
behind the stable where vanishing points
converge, the cloaked figure of Joseph,
a good man, no larger than a moth,
crouched over a smoldering fire,
drying baby Jesus’ diapers.
Robbie Gamble (he/him) is the author of A Can of Pinto Beans (Lily Poetry Review Press, 2022). His poems have appeared in Post Road, The Worcester Review, RHINO, Salamander, and The Sun. He divides his time between Boston and Vermont.