A Book by Its Cover: Sonnet on an Otolaryngological Text

jfr A Book by Its Cover: Sonnet on an Otolaryngoiogical Text Carole Fitzgerald Hayes O Curve of tongues repeating in this scene, In petals, buds, and leaves, in fruit not torn By open beaks of birds, nor swallowed clean By throats of lion and of unicorn, In force diat softly flicks the lady's veil, The tassel on her glove, in rounded shapes Of vessel, monkey's haunch, and rabbit's tail, In crescent moons on banners, staffs, and capes, In whorls of ears that strain the present tense To catch the song in tapestry well wrought, Or scent some whispered charm beneath die sense That long ago the singing weaver sought: Incant your spell against that looming hour When sweetest taste turns bitter, salt, or sour. Literature and Medicine 6 (1987) 92-93 © 1987 by The Johns Hopkins University Press Carole Fitzgerald Hayes 93 Thecoverillustrates"Taste,"oneoffivetapestriesdepictingdie senses,collectivelyentitled"TheLadyanddieUnicorn."Wovenbetween 1480and1500byunknownartists,thetapestriesnowresideindieMusée de Cluny, Paris. The cover design, 1985, is reprinted with the permission of Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, and of John J. Ballenger, M.D. ...