This 5″ x 7″ woodblock print is on Somerset paper
using Graphic Chemical Bone Black Ink, then
hand colored with acrylic paint.

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale” three wastrels are looking for death when they find an old man who tells them where death is to be found. When they get there, they think they have found the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But the old man was telling them the truth. What they found was their own deaths.

Rainbow’s End

The glitter, glitter, glitter overwhelms

The rainbow. Dawn and gold and promises

Are disregarded. Metaphoric pearls

Are egg shells shattered, ground into the dust.

Emerald leaves have turned a sickly green,

And rusted rubies scattered in the dirt

Command disintegrated thoughts and dreams.

Though rain-fresh webs connect the future, joy

Is tarnished. Redolent with springtime, life

Is hidden by illusion. Darkness reigns.