A Commemorative Painting
By James Lawless


I’ve never painted on canvas. I'm currently working on a cotton painting; I’m painting a tee-shirt. This will be a commemorative tee-shirt for my thirtieth wedding anniversary to a wonderful Italian lady. There are four objects in the picture: a moon that hugs the sun (Love), A flock of birds in flight (freedom), a bunch of grapes (nourishment), and magicians dancing (magic). These are the elements that have kept our love alive and kindled all these years, and I wrote a simple poem regarding this that I'd like to share with the reader. Perhaps what it says it also says for the reader as well.



Anniversary Poem



The moon

Hugs the sun

The freedom

Of Birds

In Flight

Sweet grapes

Give nourishment

While magicians

Dance



Love

Freedom

Nourishment

And Magic

The obvious secret

Of our time

Together



Two weeks after our anniversary was my mother’s and father’s sixtieth wedding anniversary. I painted the same tee-shirt for both of them and I made them a card with the same poem that I wrote for my wife. I only changed one word. Instead of “The obvious secret / Of our time / Together,” I wrote, “The obvious secret / Of your time / Together”.


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I'm an American teacher living in Italy. I like alternative ways of doing things, especially in writing. Mixing poetry and prose together is not appreciated by most editors, so that's why this story found itself to your readership at Weirdyear.