Observing in Detail: An Artist's Beginnings

Observing in Detail: An Artist's Beginnings

By Melissa Soule
Leland and Gray Union High School, Grade 9

Time creeps by, each tranquil moment
Carving a deep notch in passing life;
Like masterful hands divining a wooden face,
Unveiling an orange sky by pulling back the cloudy blue peel.

The water, timelessly aged upon the earth,
Reflecting a face much-weathered by the years,
The wrinkles like crevices in bark,
Deep notches full of hidden life, markers of the past.

The earth, frozen in time by a brush,
Immobile only partially through its yearly dance,
Twinkling aged eyes of autumn,
Forever gazing on garnered glories.

Watchful, the strong boat rows through calm droplets,
Confidently striding in the cool friction.
Gracefully, empowered by arms strong and gnarled like the limbs overhead,
Its prow a sharp knife.

Reveling in the quiet,
The eerie silence a symphony to elder ears.
Noiseless, save the gentle patter of rippling wavelets,
As though laughing at the distorted riot the world becomes in their path. Then, fading to calm.

Quieted, until naught but a weathered, wooden face remains,
Mirthful eyes twinkling faster than any water droplet,
Aged beyond recognition, yet now ageless in time;
Finding new beginnings in an artist's admiration.