He gave a picture exhibition, <br />Hiring a little empty shop. <br />Above its window: FREE ADMISSION <br />Cajoled the passers-by to stop; <br />Just to admire - no need to purchase, <br />Although his price might have been low: <br />But no proud artist ever urges <br />Potential buyers at his show. <br /> <br />Of course he badly needed money, <br />But more he needed moral aid. <br />Some people thought his pictures funny, <br />Too ultra-modern, I'm afraid. <br />His painting was experimental, <br />Which no poor artist can afford- <br />That is, if he would pay the rental <br />And guarantee his roof and board. <br /> <br />And so some came and saw and sniggered, <br />And some a puzzled brow would crease; <br />And some objected: "Well, I'm jiggered!" <br />What price Picasso and Matisse? <br />The artist sensitively quivered, <br />And stifled many a bitter sigh, <br />But day by day his hopes were shivered <br />For no one ever sought to buy. <br /> <br />And then he had a brilliant notion: <br />Half of his daubs he labeled: SOLD. <br />And lo! he viewed with queer emotion <br />A public keen and far from cold. <br />Then (strange it is beyond the telling), <br />He saw the people round him press: <br />His paintings went - they still are selling... <br />Well, nothing succeeds like success.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/artist/
