Painting as Sacred Seduction
Lord Alfred Douglas would have loved to sit
For Basil Howard. Even more this lord
Would certainly have forced his Wilde to quit
The field of fever known as love and board
The field of bankrupt slavery to pay
The painter for the privilege. Wilde
Would definitely have been Alfred’s prey
For this extravagance. Al would have filed
It safely in his bedroom so that he
Could worship it in trance or use it for
Temptation of his later men to see
While scoring with them, scoundrel greedy whore.
Or he would store it in his attic well
Beyond them, kneeling lone beneath its spell.
~ Phillip Whidden