PAD Day 6: Trapped in The Garden of Earthly Delights

Today's prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write a "trapped" poem, and (2) write a poem from the point of view of one of the people, animals or "things" from the famous triptyph by Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights. If you're not familiar, it's a medieval work that is one of the strangest pieces of art ever created, surreal and both beautiful and terrifying, depicting the Garden of Eden, the worldy pleasures of the flesh, and Hell. Here's an excellent interactive site that gives you an in-depth look: https://archief.ntr.nl/tuinderlusten/en.html

I chose what is probably the most famous detail of that painting, one from the Hell panel of the triptych that stands out by its relatively large size in the painting and its sheer disturbing nature. It's known as the "Tree Man":

Tree Man in Bosch's Hell

All the damned fools around me

are suffering for their sins.

I am the vessel of sloth and drunkenness,

my hollow torso an infernal pub.

A woman taps a keg for the patrons

sitting at a long table in my chest -

one is perched on a toad, symbol of Satan.

Another fellow leans despondently

over my rib cage, which is pierced

with rib-like branches, sprouted

from my trunk-like arms, buoyed

by two rowboats, floating down a river

as black as the Styx.

I look back at it all,

bemused, under a hat crowned

with bagpipes, brimming with a parade

of lost souls and demons

who dance to its keening tune.

I am their ship of fools,

and they are trapped here forever,

just as we are all trapped here forever.