Yarrow House

Painted in Place

                                    for David Allison

Art stitches up the fraying seams in his life
and salves all—the steady pressure to make a name, 
the struggle to piece together some meaning 
for the dailyness. Only in art, 

the healing leap of faith, drawing
the radiant light out of the riven earth, 
out of paint and worn paper, praising
the fecund fields. And after all—

age haunting, and the demands of success—
the blessed paint spreads its soothing,
fertile film over the pain. In art, uncertainty 

shifts into mystery. In art, redemption and grace 
fall—distant rain over newly plowed fields—
painting firmly in place a tender gauze of new green.

Like what you're reading? Don't keep it to yourself.

Onetime reproduction for non-resale purposes permitted by the author with the following credit line: by J Yarrow