Home

The National Gallery (London)

by Peter Humphreys

sitting
in a corner
I notice pictures
that for years
had been blind to me
exquisite blues and golds
a rainbowed cloak
allusion previously lost on me
of saints and sinners
the Magdalen
in the palest green
sitting on the floor
at the Master's feet
reading the Bible
not yet made
a face of plain appeal
the Florentines battling Siena
a Christ
who looks so tender in his pain
terrified
flat opulent Venetians'
bourgeois malice
then
in the farthest room
a Mary
where have you been my friends
when my eyes could only see
but never notice?

10/20/2008

Posted on 10/20/2008
Copyright © 2024 Peter Humphreys

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 10/20/08 at 03:11 PM

The time was finally right and there they were, still waiting for your notice, as are so many things of life. Nicely done.

Posted by Rhiannon Jones on 10/21/08 at 12:50 AM

I read a quote earlier today...somewhere...someone....it was something like, "we need not seek new horizons, but only learn to look with fresh eyes". This poem says that well.

Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 10/26/08 at 07:01 PM

Yes, we may have our eyes open, but true beauty (especially art)requires us to open our soul. Then we can really feels what we see. Great write. Thanks.

Posted by George Hoerner on 09/09/17 at 09:18 PM

I have always loved and have spent a lot of time in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. I would be one of those has looked at a picture many times without really seeing what all was really there until one day when all of the sudden it comes to you, all most as if it was saying 'Ok, now you are ready. Like some poetry you read and read and one day you say to yourself Wow That is so true.

Return to the Previous Page
 

pathetic.org Version 7.3.2 May 2004 Terms and Conditions of Use 0 member(s) and 2 visitor(s) online
All works Copyright © 2024 their respective authors. Page Generated In 0 Second(s)