Aerial

 

Nocturne in Black and Gold, Falling Rocket (1875) 

by James Abbott McNeill Whistler 

You stood before me 

Master of your art

I stood before you

Bewitched, gaping.

With long slender fingers

You crafted for me

Whole worlds

in a bubble.

Of bubble,

whole worlds.

Believe me, when I say they were

Worlds singing -

with tunes most tender

Luminous - 

with daubs of thick paint

Soaring -

with words sprouting wings. 

Oh, to hold them in my hands

To press them to my ears

To peer through them all!

We levitated together,

These bubbles and I,

For several light years. 

Who knew, 

(Did you?)

they would pop.

Each one,

One 

by 

one.

With a shatter so sharp

Strings cut 

I fall headlong

(Do you?)

A dawdle of a fall

With echoes of sweet bird and far-off song.