TRIP TO ELTHAM PALACE POEM 2
The Palace is whimsical and full of daydream, I think. The 30s redesign has flair and interest and complements the original architecture, as if it were a real home. This statue is by the bath and I cannot imagine taking a bath surrounded by gold and watched on by this graceful marble person. It made me think of times I have looked at statues and how that felt and this poem is inspired by that - as if it had come to life.
“We are sometimes so happy, and never in our lives have we known more unhappiness. It’s as if we were working together on the same statue, cutting it out of each other’s misery. But I don’t even know the design.” Graham Greene
Looking Down
Staring into space, our eyes met,
It was a curious thing,
As I was in darkened space of anonymous number,
A bolt, a shock, a quiver?
An arrow’s dart had hit, but not that of Cupid,
But a more rapacious godlet or such,
As the heart was struck but the doubt was not assuaged,
With a toss of hair and a stare.
What private thoughts were you having
As your public discourse ran,
I could not tell for
I was consumed following its path,
A convolution of thoughts centering
Around a spoke of metaphor mathematically defined.
You spoke of empathy as our limbs mimicked each other,
And our pulses raced together,
What falsehoods we created with our numbered dance
I do not know,
For parallel lines do not intersect.
“Absolute parallelism of stylistic approach in the different arts and genres presupposes a level of development on which art no longer has to wrestle for the means of expression, but is able, to a certain extent, to choose freely among the different possibilities of formal treatment.” Arnold Hauser
So here we are, in the present, looking at the past as if it were our own! The historian or artist cannot help pushing their own time or life into an interpretation of the past. I have not tried to be accurate or find a link to the time in style, but free-write from inspiration of the photograph I took. I hope you are enjoying it!
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