Antonio Allegri Correggio (1489-1534)
 Jupiter and Io 1531-32, Oil on canvas,
163.5 x 70.5 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Jupiter and Io 

by Beth Houston
   
  

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Jupiter and Io





     

— Correggio, c. 1532

  
In one of many guises, her god comes.
His face of smudged fog (concealed from Juno),
Eye of the storm, watches as his nymph numbs...
She’s drunk too much. —That she’d managed to stow
That stout urn of wine in those woods betrays
Her intentions. He’s drunk his godly fill,
Become this thundered cloud with no rain, plays
With her... She likes his soft, smoky stroke, still
Her face beams no lightning love, no lust gasps
Embraced by Olympus’s teddy bear.
One hand holds her beast’s arm, the other grasps
An invisible glass — she doesn’t care
Whether those tame brute paws are Jupiter’s;
This satisfied mistress adores her furs.

 

Able Muse