Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HISTORY OF PAINTING, by NATHALIA CRANE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HISTORY OF PAINTING, by                    
First Line: A shadow and reflection quarreled once upon a time
Last Line: That beauty might be glorified by love forever more.
Subject(s): Nature; Paintings & Painters


A SHADOW and reflection quarreled once upon a time,
Disputing o'er the setting for a woodland pantomime.

One claimed that color dominates and waved to heaven's blue;
The other held that outline makes an angel worth the view.

The tumult shook the thrushes' nests, the fledglings joined their cries;
Forth came the fauns from forest gloom with wistful enterprise.

Reflection flung her florid robes o'er gneiss and dolomite;
The shadow bowed to everything that stood within the light.

But color lacked the candor and the certainty divine;
The shadow clung forever to the flatness of a line.

Spake suddenly an oracle, gray-feathered, blindly wise:
"The absence of the sunlight worketh wonders in the eyes;

"For light and shades are synonyms of things that stand apart
Till love creates a question and a longing in each heart."

The fledglings caught the utterance, the fauns were there to see;
They stayed to watch a shadow kiss a rose light recklessly.

Thereafter there was artistry, the brooks began to paint;
The ferns were willing models and the lilacs lost restraint;

The lakes were filled with sunsets and the birth-marked butterflies
On balanced wings were cruising 'cross the mirrors of the skies.

The granite learned to glisten and the rocks that held the rain
Awoke to truer technique, tempting visions back again.

Thus from a bickering were born the painter's art and lore
That beauty might be glorified by love forever more.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net