Las Meninas - Split Enz

Las Meninas have taken over,
the harlequins went with the Guy Fawkes guy,
and the king has become owl’s clover.
Velazquez gone into El Greco sky.

And Gertrude takes up all of the mirror.
The chaperone captured the chamberlain.
Will the little princess ever mature ?
Nannie Slagg and the maids make champion

pieces; no dogs allowed on the chessboard.
And the prince in the tower woke,
and left the girls to their dream of rewards,
and refused to live in a world revoked.

Titus walked out his own detritus.
And the painter paints his own quietus.

Woodford Halse - 3 April 2026

The great painting Las Meninas (1656) by Diego Velazquez ( 1599 - 1660), and the New Zealand art rock band Split Enz ( 1972 -84 ) whose songs were so formative in my youth.

I have given them both the touch of the Gormenghast of Mervyn Peake (1911 - 69).