Redtree Times

Endless Possibility– Coming to Principle Gallery in June

George Gray

I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me–
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire–
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

–Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology, 1915

The painting at the top probably represents how George Gray, studying his gravestone in the poem above from Edgar Lee Masters, wished he had lived his life instead of being a boat at rest in the harbor, longing for the sea and yet afraid.

There’s something to think about there, how we let our fears and inner demons squash our greatest desires and rule our lives. 

Maybe we should take a bit of advice from this song, Shake It Out, from Florence and the Machine. As she sings: It’s hard to dance with a devil, on your back, So shake him off…

I bet old George Gray wish he had taken that advice.