Thursday, May 29, 2008

In an Artist's Studio by Christina Rossetti

One face looks out from all his canvasses,
One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans;
We found her hidden just behind those screens,
That mirror gave back all her loveliness.
A queen in opal or in ruby dress,
A nameless girl in freshest summer greens,
A saint, an angel; — every canvass means
The same one meaning, neither more nor less.
He feeds upon her face by day and night,
And she with true kind eyes looks back on him
Fair as the moon and joyful as the light:
Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim;
Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright;
Not as she is, but as she fills his dream.

3 comments:

Maria said...

Not as she is, but as she falls in his dreams...Christina was
a beautiful spirit.

Fireblossom said...

Hi Chella. I confess I don't care much for William Carlos Williams--he's too much of a guy, he better stay out of my refrigerator or he'll lose his hand, and what's so great about that blasted red wheelbarrow anyway?--but I absolutely adore Christina Rossetti. I wonder if this is perhaps written about her brother Dante's usual model for his paintings? Her name escapes me. In any case, it's an intriguing poem by a marvelously talented poetess. :-)

Unknown said...

Hi. On the net the name Auden is mentioned in your description. Im looking for an artist by the name of Auden or Audene Courington from New Mexico. Are you related to this person? He was my step dads brother. I have a water color he did and know nothing about him or the painting. Thank you, Ray King
rgkbear@live.com