Cheekwood
A(n) Ekphrastic
Up the elevator by the servants’ staircase in the manor house of a once-wealthy once-family hung an exhibit of satire that held two cartoons sharing gems the noblesse were never obliged to grasp.
The first showed a castle, which, like this one, was emptied of its royalty, its riches on display all tagged - though those for sale, not show. A banner read: “abdicating: everything must go,” a lesson not learned on these shelves of silver: ultimately, everything should.
The second showed a graveyard, tombstones all ‘round encircling a great mausoleum roped off with a sign by a back-door staircase that read “service entrance”, much like the sign downstairs here. A lesson not learned in these stone halls: ultimately, everything does.
