The Presence Of The Past

I met Renita, one of my American cousins, after many years in London yesterday, and her amazing knowledge of certain aspects of European art history struck a deep chord in me. These words are for her :

To capture the shimmer of your gaze

With three swift brush-strokes

There yet remains something unspoken

Within the pair of your eloquent eyes

Perhaps the joy of a gentle radiance

Like the warmth of the orange sun

That slowly rises every dawn

Unfettered, untired, and unblemished

High above the tangled mess
Of our world of unresolved contradictions.