TO VERMEER written 16 years ago

 TO VERMEER

Like a long-legged fly upon the stream

His mind moves upon silence. (W.B. Yeats)

Mynheer Vermeer, my dear Jan,

What is the secret of your stillness?

Such a stillness,

Suspending time for a spellbound moment –

Only a moment in the lives you painted.                                                             

Ah, the richness of the light, the textures;

Ah, how palpable each person and each object.

If I heed not that rucked up carpet I shall trip

And fall – in silence – on the cold, tiled floor.

There are dust motes dancing soundless in the sunlight;

Smells of cooking, and of polish, soap and ‘baccy.

But a moment, and the sounds will snap back:

Breathing,  laughter,  music,  splashing milk.

 

              

If that were all, you’d only be a conjuror.

Others have learned your skills,

Though none quite matched ‘em.

But you, dear sir, make it seem so important,

That mundane moment in an ordinary life.

What does it signify?  Why am I entranced,

All the present cast away as I focus,

In each freeze frame seeking – illumination?

Illumination!  O magician of the luminous

What do I seek?  What will you tell me,

Limning words on the canvas with your paintbrush,

Like the long-legged fly upon the stream,

In silence?

 © 14 May 2007 by Ruth Heredia

Comment by J. Birjepatil: How did you manage to get those lovely Vermeer pictures transcribed so perfectly to the computer screen? Three cheers for camera obscura. They are ravishing and the accompanying passages might have sprung from the master of light and shadows himself. The way the text and the visuals disseminate in your work reminds me of W G Sebald's writing but he is gloomy and you are anything but.

Posted in honour of the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Ruth Heredia is the originator and holds the copyright to all material on this blog unless credited to some source. Please do not use it or pass it off as your own work. That is theft. If you wish to link it, quote it, or reprint in whole or in part, please be courteous enough to seek my permission.