Let Me Grow Lovely

Joan Miro  Nude with Mirror

Let Me Grow Lovely

Let me grow lovely, growing old--
So many fine things do:
Laces, and ivory, and gold,
And silks need not be new;
And there is healing in old trees,
Old streets a glamour hold;
Why may not I, as well as these,
Grow lovely, growing old?

~ Karle Wilson Baker ~

Of Beauty

Lovis Corinth

Old Man in Armor

Of Beauty

Let us use it while we may

Snatch those joys that haste away!

Earth her winter coat may cast,

And renew her beauty past:

But, our winter come, in vain

We solicit spring again;

And when our furrows snow shall cover,

Love may return but never lover.

~ Sir Richard Fanshawe ~

Barbie Doll

Barbara Pratt

Silly Barbie Doll

Barbie Doll

This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.

She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.

She was advised to play coy,
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore out
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up.

In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.

~ Marge Piercy ~

I have loved flowers that fade...

Claude Monet

Spring Flowers

I have loved flowers that fade...

I have loved flowers that fade,

Within whose magic tents

Rich hues have marriage made

With sweet unmemoried scents:

A honeymoon delight--

A joy of love at sight,

That ages in an hour--

My song be like a flower!

I have loved airs that die

Before their charm is writ

Along a liquid sky

Trembling to welcome it.

Notes, that with pulse of fire

Proclaim the spirit's desire,

Then die, and are nowhere--

My song be like an air!

Die, song, die like a breath,

And wither as a bloom;

Fear not a flowery death,

Dread not an airy tomb!

Fly with delight, fly hence!

'Twas thine love's tender sense

To feast; now on thy bier

Beauty shall shed a tear.

~ Robert Bridges ~

I love all beauteous things...

John Singer Sargent

The Artist Sketching

I love all beauteous things...

I love all beauteous things,

I seek and adore them;

God hath no better praise,

And man in his hasty days

Is honoured for them.

I too will something make

And joy in the making!

Altho' tomorrow it seem'

Like the empty words of a dream

Remembered, on waking.

~ Robert Bridges ~

During an Absence

John Singer Sargent

Rosina

During an Absence

Now that she has left the room for a moment

to powder her nose,

we watch and wait, watch and wait,

for her to bring back the purpose into our lives.

~ Hugo Williams ~

XX

Frank W. Benson

The Sunny Window

XX

The most beautiful sea:

hasn't been crossed yet.

The most beautiful child:

hasn't grown up yet.

Our most beautiful days:

we haven't seen yet.

And the most beautiful words I wanted to tell you

I haven't said yet...

~ Nazim Hikmet ~