Death of an Artist

You had ‘The Birth of Venus’ pinned where you could see,
Beyond the bed. A modest nude to contemplate.
A feat of balance, standing on that shell, at sea.

Poised between the Carnal and the Ultimate,
You talked about the art of painting, pointed out
How Botticelli’s composition-lines relate
To a Matisse, the things New Masters learnt about
The Old. You took a pencil-stub to demonstrate.

What deprivations of the Underworld assailed
Your mind, or bright Venusian dreams tormented you?
You’d seen so much – you thought you knew what death entailed:
“Talk about art? Why not? What else is there to do?”

An atheist, you doubted Heaven, doubted Hell.
More fitting, to be borne away upon the Shell.

 

.

Dominic Rivron
Picture Nick Victor

 

 

 

.

This entry was posted on in homepage and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.