This is a new painting, a 20″ by 24″ canvas , that is called Above It All, part of the show opening December 5th at the Kada Gallery. I felt from the time this painting was complete that with its intertwining tree set apart from the village below that it was about some form of love. But what sort of love and how to describe it in words?
It seemed like a from of eternal love, one bound together through time, much like that in the myth of Baucis and Philemon that I have described here on several occasions. But I thought I would look to the words of someone else to perhaps give a new perspective on what I was seeing in this.
That brought me to the poems of Rupert Brooke, the British poet who was just in his ascension as a major poetic voice when he died at the age of 27 in 1915. He was in the British naval forces of WW I on the way to Gallipoli when he developed sepsis from an infected mosquito bite. He was buried in an olive grove on the Greek island of Skyros. An odd casualty of the war but still a casualty that deprived the world of what might have come from his hand.
The poem of Brooke’s that hit me the most fitting for this piece was one titled The Call, written when he was only about 20 years old. It has the intensity of youthful love, like a flaming torch held high. And that’s what I see in this painting. So, if you can tolerate poetry, and I know some can’t, give a read to the verses below from Rupert Brooke. It’s powerful and straightforward. And fitting, or so I think.
The Call
Out of the nothingness of sleep,
The slow dreams of Eternity,
There was a thunder on the deep:
I came, because you called to me.
I broke the Night’s primeval bars,
I dared the old abysmal curse,
And flashed through ranks of frightened stars
Suddenly on the universe!
The eternal silences were broken;
Hell became Heaven as I passed. —
What shall I give you as a token,
A sign that we have met, at last?
I’ll break and forge the stars anew,
Shatter the heavens with a song;
Immortal in my love for you,
Because I love you, very strong.
Your mouth shall mock the old and wise,
Your laugh shall fill the world with flame,
I’ll write upon the shrinking skies
The scarlet splendour of your name,
Till Heaven cracks, and Hell thereunder
Dies in her ultimate mad fire,
And darkness falls, with scornful thunder,
On dreams of men and men’s desire.
Then only in the empty spaces,
Death, walking very silently,
Shall fear the glory of our faces
Through all the dark infinity.
So, clothed about with perfect love,
The eternal end shall find us one,
Alone above the Night, above
The dust of the dead gods, alone.
-Rupert Brooke
I’ve not read much Rupert Brooke, but this is an excellent match of words and image. Even though both stand well on their own, there sometimes is a reciprocal relationship between elements that provides some “added value” to each.
I’ve never thought about this before, but we do use multiple senses to take in the world. Maybe that’s why words and image, or lyrics set to music, or other such combinations, often communicate so powerfully — they’re giving us the world through more than one sense.
THANK YOU for the art, the words, the music that I look forward to finding in your space. . Such a meaningful gift you are giving by ALL of this thoughtful sharing!!!
“Some from of love?” Apparently the spell checker decided “form should be “from” in several places. Reminds me of the dyslexic atheist who doesn’t believe there is a dog.
I like the entwined trees and how their leaves form one canopy. And the white houses with red roofs. The trees are above the mundane, the conforming masses.
My apologies on the spelling. Actually, it’s the typing that gets me sometimes. Part of the problem of doing this blog off the cuff without rewrites is that sometimes grammatical and spelling errors slide through. Hopefully, the intent still comes through.
On Mon, Nov 3, 2014 at 11:22 PM, Redtree Times wrote:
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