THE IMPRESSIONISTS!

THE IMPRESSIONISTS!


O, how you colored all the world with colors new!

Shades of light and shadow and vibrant hues
That shift and shimmer and dance upon those
Canvases of yours, transforming art into marvels
Which no mortal eyes had ever thought or
Hoped or dreamed, could be before.
And nothing has ever been the same.

But what a price you paid!

Lives lived out in obscurity and pain.
Peerless genius, mocked by lesser men, and
Jealous fools, who could not understand or match your skills.
So they struck out with words to hurt and keep you
From achieving, a greatness they could never be.
A crime too vile of which to speak.

And the best of you, were hurt the most!

Van Gogh, it drove to such madness,
He turned his brilliant hands upon himself,
Doing harm upon harm, till he could endure no more, and
In a moment of deep despair, took his life.
Putting out before its time, one of the brightest lights
Ever to have shined upon the world of man.

O, if you could have lived to know the lasting glory you would all gain!

The water lillies of Monet,
The dancing lovers of Renoir,
Vincent’s sunflowers, these and
All you made have become
Monuments to your immortality and
The blessings millions cherish daily.

And as for me, I can still recall the time I looked upon my first,

Then heard some inner voice
Ask of me “do you see?”
“Yes,” I thought, “I see all the colors of a world
I never knew was there before and I shall never see
Anything the same again.”
All because of what you great artists left to us,

In those beautiful canvases of yours!


(NOTE: This poem is intended to honor the artists of both the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements!)