The Art of Marriage

for Dick and Katrina

 

You have chosen the canvas,

stretched and bleached, with

shadowy outlines sketched

in charcoal;

now you must paint.

 

In watercolors, perhaps,

with the delicate hint of the brush.

Or in the rough texture and

clear scent of oils.

But go slowly, choose carefully,

there’s no rush to get it down.

 

You will paint over

and over

and despair for not learning.

Learning, finally,

that the art of working at it

becomes

the work of art.

 

 

 

© Barbara Burt

[unpublished]