Listening to a Mural by Maxfield Parrish* "Don't laugh we are alone (except for an artist who only talks with his brush)." The young man was playing out the model's part. "I can be as grand as any Florentine noble on the way to a Fete. Do you think he would bow like this?" "And if he did, should I be impressed?" The lady forthwith laughed behind her smile. "Yes, be impressed ! or I must find other ways to swirl this cape with its yards and yards of checks, saying 'wait for me' 'be happy with me these few happy hours.' " Flapper though she was, she modeled her storybook part. She was not all that different Girls, then as now, studied the stars and played guitars the same as enlightened boys. "My dear sir, I hardly know you but I have plans. To presume upon the Universe as your Mr Eliot would say. To track the mermaid's call before the dancing begins and this mural comes to an end." And so the couples came and went while the artist fashioned a youth ideally spent. She put off love for another day while he swirled his cape every which way.
L. Fullington
* The mural described in the poem is "Florentine Fete" 1911-1916, by Maxfield Parrish, to be found in the American Illustrator's Gallery, New York City.
If you've a comment on her poem, L.Fullington would be pleased to hear from you.