the hypochondriac carl spitzweg
noonday
i leave my seat
and looking across the little dusty space
i can see the quiet street
soft with wood and claybricks
ripe with scarlet sun-plumped tomatoes
warming in rows
on windowsills
soft-licked by sleeping cats
draped with curtains tracing cotton white arabesques
and sweet with the juice of fresh cut flower-stems
the reassuring scents
of cooking
curl into the sky
a church spire pierces some soft-edged clouds that,
momentarily caught in their passage
tear slightly
before moving towards the hill-edged horizon
in the room across from me
in the half-darkness
a woman nurses her child
piano notes
hover
from somewhere beyond
their merged bodies
the music for this place
18 comments:
Fresh cut flowers, tomatoes, piano notes and a nursing child...all of the images in this sit well within this Spitzweg piece, and I am transported.
In an environment as genial and harmonious as the one you paint in words here, steven, (not to mention Brian Eno's contribution to the mix) I have confidence that our hypochondriac will fully recover his health and go out into his world and bring goodness into it.
Stunning, Steven, just plain stunning. Words, image and music.
You follow so closely the Rumi quote you have on your heading!
I use this piece (Brian Eno) as accompaniment for massage often. It is transcendant, as are your words.
Next time I get all fussy and inwards focused, I'll remember what you taught me today. Thanks.
Steven,
this is so, so lovely - ripe images, like the tomatoes, full, like cotton arabesques.
Wow. I'm going to have to come by more often!
I studied the golden image, absorbing the sunlight and the shadows.
I read your words and felt the warm clay bricks and the cotton white arabesques.
Is there anything more peaceful than a mother nursing her child?
I listened to the music. My legs uncrossed, my hands lost their fists, and the coil inside me loosened.
My heart softened to a regular beat, rather than the harsh thuds I'd been experiencing.
You've provided great solace to me today, Steven. I just thought you should know. ♥
I am so enjoying your spitzweg series. x
..beautiful,,everyone has said it already but thanks for the music..it brought back happy memories of a brian eno concert...reading town hall 1974...x
kay - i've not had the fortune of hearing eno's music live but i've followed his trajectory closely enough to have most of his recorded output. it gets played a lot around this house! steven
tess - i've enjoyed the inspiration that flowed out of each painting. steven
jo i sense that you are passing through a difficult life piece and so it becomes especialy important to ensure that you are open to whatever qualities of energy will choose to place themselves in your hands. being peaceful and accepting is the very first step. peace. steven
hello neighbour! and thankyou for your kind comment. steven
reya - this is a piece that i've listened to so many times because it carries a wealth of emotion without the weight. steven
pauline - it reminds me!!!! steven
elisabeth - i'm deeply flattered and then also grateful for your very generous words. steven
ha dan! so do i!!! it's just too good to stay home and suffer . . . . . steven
terresa it's a fun thing to allow whatever is there to flow through and then to take form as words. steven
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