Paintings & Poetry

Mrs. Sweet’s Favorites

El Jaleo, John Singer Sargent, The Isabella Gardner Museum, Boston, MA2009, Oil pastel on gessoed masonite, 23 ¾” x 23 ½ “.

The ConnectionBy Eran Braverman, 2010

I carefully escort you to the dance floorAnd pause, hesitate, till you are ready.Gently, gently, gently, I take your hand,

And put my other, o so softly, at your back. We begin to danceAnd, momentarily.

We connect.We connect.

We become inseperable, entangled.We are enveloped in escaped sensuality, that

For the duration of this danceIs perfectly balanced; how precious it is.

Let this dance never end becauseThe connection is sadly, purely, only, for the duration of this dance.

Let this dance never end becauseWhen it ends the connection will shatter like perfect glass.

Sunrise, William Turner, The Tate Gallery, London2009, Oil pastel on gessoed masonite, 23 ¾” x 23 ½ “.

EternityBy William Blake

He who binds to himself a joyDoes the winged life destroy;

But he who kisses the joy as it fliesLives in eternity's sun rise.

Carol’s Stormy Pinon, Carol Anthony2009, Oil pastel on gessoed masonite, 23 ¾” x 23 ½ “.

Noble SpiritBy Jonathan

“Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free.”Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr.-The Gift to be Simple: Shaker Rituals and Songs.

“The singularity of every man and woman is Jah’s gift.What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah.”

Catch a Fire—Bob Marley Biography

If I could reach and find my noble spiritI’d awaken to what I always wanted to be,

and become who I am through silence and peace.

I would hang my clothes on the line and enjoy the rough cloth and pine smell when I walk this path.

I would make soup and eat it with friends and family,

I would find time to become fallow and emergeSoon thereafter cleansed willing to yield,

to nurture, to thank, to listen to simplify, to be,

I would enter the consignment store in search of a bookand leave two at the door as I leave to venture

into the pages of life and seek nothing,

I would take a walk along a stream and sitbeside the bridge and current, in silence

Amongst nature, meditate, sleep soundly.

Everyday I would complement another,Inquire about their life with question, and listen,

truly listen and thank them for their honesty.

I would learn from my my regrets and loosen the burden,forever releasing the desire to move in rearward,

Breathing in deeply and exhaling every desire.

I will live in love, and fear will subside,forgiveness will blossom when I live below the surface

drifting in the motions of the simplicity in the deep.

When my seeking comes to its conclusionyou will know by the way I live and speak,

For it is not yesterday but this moment with you.

The nobility of spirit will present itself as a gift.