BY IRENA PASVINTER
Copyright is held by the author.
ecc. perché la minestra si fredda
(etc. because the soup is getting cold)
— Leonardo da Vinci, 1518
Because the soup is getting cold,
The aging genius is called
Away from scribbling on the page
His ravings of a hungry sage.
His craving cannot be fulfilled,
No matter if the page is filled.
And even if his life is long,
There’s still so much to grasp, to learn . . .
By god, the hearty soup smells good!
His thoughts can wait but not his food.
And so his crowning wisdom is told:
because the soup is getting cold.
They say this line is the last
That through the ages has been passed,
Preserved in Codex Arundel
For us to marvel at today
At his unfinished thoughts that are
Encoded in ecc. — etcetera.
Next time your soup is getting cold
Do like the genius of old.
***
Irena Pasvinter divides her time between software engineering, taking care of her family, and writing poetry and fiction. Her stories and poems have appeared in online and print magazines (Gyroscope Review, Every Day Fiction, CommuterLit, Bartleby Snopes, Fiction on the Web and many others). Her poem “Psalm 3.14159…” has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She is currently looking for a publisher for her first novel and working on her second one. Visit Irena at https://sites.google.com/site/ipscribblings.
