Stripping an almond tree in flower
The wise apothecary's skill
A single drop of lethal power
From perfect sweetness can distill
From bitterness in efflorescence,
With murderous poisons packed therein;
The poet draws pellucid essence
Pure as a drop of metheglin.
Leave a guest comment (subject to review)
Comments
-
ok, since the apothecary knows the secret of creating a poison from the seemingly harmless almond tree, the joke is that someone is being killed without knowing it? "Metheglin" is a fermented honey mead; medicated liquid. Lots of word play in this poem. "Little" in the title is repeated in "a drop" and "a single drop"; the joke could be the unwitting person's underestimation of the total skill that the apothecary possesses. "Sweetness" is the play on the image of the almond tree, the bloom and the smell that the almond extract produces. Many word plays are produced with the image of clearness: "efflorescence", "pellucid" and the inferred clearness of the apothecary's skills.
If you see someone making medicine from an almond tree, RUN. LOL. -
I read the title, I read the piece, and it seems the 'little joke' to me is 'oh .. I didn't mean to poison you, it was just a joke'. That's what I read.
I mean, in most to all stories I've ever read or seen when the 'apothecary' is mentioned usually and most-likely it's due to some 'poison' or what not.
I find this to be a bit wicked, a good piece that Wylie has written here.
Adding your comment:
