Our world forgets – has never known, perhaps – <br />that questions are a treasured magic wand: <br /> <br />the question asked, the answer may, most like, come freshly said <br />out of a space that’s new alike to teacher and to taught; <br /> <br />your question is today – how factual should I leave <br />my verse, or should I seek to ‘colour’ it with metaphor? … <br /> <br />this image comes to mind: ‘old master’ in his studio, <br />famed painter of Madonnas with attendant Child; <br /> <br />demand’s incessant; so he draws the outlines in, <br />and passes on the canvas to his studio hand; <br /> <br />coloured then, maybe he adds the master’s touch of life -– <br />the smile of angel’s sweetness on the Madonna’s face; <br /> <br />the glimpse of future in the Christ Child’s eyes; <br />and off it goes to some great patron’s church, <br /> <br />to comfort all of womanhood in woes and joys, <br />its colours gleaming candlelit in sacred prayer; <br /> <br />and yet, how connoisseurs may treasure that quick sketch <br />on scrap of hand-made paper, where the very touch <br /> <br />of sanguine chalk or silverpoint, reveal the immediate mind <br />of that old master, as it found the new track of the line; <br /> <br />the world will praise, admire, your coloured image of Her face; <br />but She will see, in pencilled sketch, how love springs from her grace..<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-question-about-art/
