Friday, 08 April 2022
On the eighth day of the 26th annual American National Poetry Month I offer an ekphrasic poem inspired by this gorgeous painting by the English artist, Eric Ravilious.
Ironbridge
Farm Interior (Shalford, Essex), 1941, by Eric Ravilious,1903 –
1942
Image credit: Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
In a Quiet Room
Morning light, diamond-white
floods in through framed windows.
In this translucence the simple
room becomes a sanctuary.
It is not my home, yet in another life
I could see myself there, in that quiet
space ― a room of my own; a concept
so well expressed by Woolf all those
decades ago, yet as necessary today
as water is to man and beast alive in
any age. Perhaps now, more than ever
before the need for a beautiful space
such as this is vital for rest and respite
from the never-ending pressures of
life that runs faster than a racehorse
with every passing year
In that quiet room I would sit in the
straight-backed chair by the window,
read a good, book ― momentarily
glancing up as I turn the page
to admire the beautiful flowers in their
vase. They make the room the castle
it is; without them it would be a
poorer reflection of itself.
Eventually I rise, pause a moment
to take in the passing scene outside
the window, then I draw the chair
to the table; with a silent word of
apology I push the vase to one side ―
later it will have pride of place again.
Setting out my pens and paper,
spreading out my books I begin to work.
There's no finer place in which to think,
write and create ― the mind can achieve
magic in a quiet room such as this.
© Carola Huttmann, 08 April 2022
