Two Human Beings, Edvard Munch (1896)Which am I to choose?
Each providing great rewards.
Either way I lose!
If love be my fate,
I must share with another.
All else needs to wait!
If art is my life,
My mind free to ever roam.
Loneliness is rife!
Both have equal urge.
Love and art can’t coexist.
One I must now purge!
Art to be my choice.
Love can be ephemeral,
While art gives me voice!
Sunset at Etretat, Claude Monet (1883)Tis never quiet at the oceanside.
Coming here often so my ears may hear,
The music that reaches far down inside,
Touching ever dearly to bring a tear.
Never certain what music ocean brings,
For the moon and the wind select the score.
Prefer the wind send the angel that sings,
Over the moon slamming waves at the shore.
The angel’s songs upon the ocean breeze,
Bring back many memories of long passed,
Of her endeavoring for my heart to seize,
A love, thinking it would forever last.
But tonight the full moon has taken hold,
Sending forward a Wagner symphony.
The percussion sounds are strong, stern and bold,
I’m so relaxed for my love sits with me.
Beneath the blanket to ward off the chill,
As we plan our future lives together,
Knowing the ocean to play what it will,
We shall persist whatever the weather.
Lovers’ Song, Federico Andreotti (1876)Night is so young and love has just begun
Sit here my fair lady while I perform
Singing soft words to make our love burgeon
With the desire to create a firestorm
Rose thou holds place gently beneath thy nose
To my heart an image of what thou art
Thou sweeter and softer than any rose
This feeling in my heart shall never part
Bow glides slowly across my violin
Like the summer wind through thy angel hair
To rest my bow and touch thy tender skin
Thy pure beauty knowing none that compare
The candle has now become very short
Come my love and gently retire with me
To a dreamland thy heart I will transport
Singing a lovers’ song written for thee
Songs without Words, Frederic Leighton (1860)Pure water continuously runs free
Many a thirst it has power to quench
Oh how I wish moving water to be
So this desert life may quickly unclench
Each day hearing water’s songs without words
Wondering what it is trying to say
Not knowing like the singing of the birds
Until deciphered here condemned to stay
Wise lady told me words of the water
Water asking that I take her away
To a new life that would be much brighter
Than sink into the ground so cold and gray
Learned very important lesson this day
So easy to let my mind go astray
La Promenade, Renoir August Pierre (1870)Joy in my heart to see thee standing there,
Warmth of the sun on thee providing care,
With a gentle wind toying with thy hair.
Looking at thee my heart shall not be bare.
Come closer into the shadows with me,
So that I may hear loving words from thee,
While I shall try to explain they beauty,
And why the two of us should lovers be.
Want the touch of your love until my end,
For is thee who provides needed comfort.
With each passing day my love I will send,
That we may share loving lives in concert.
Absent thy touch life be but misery,
But with thee each day life shall shine brightly.
Reclining Beauty, Fritz Zuber-Bühler (c. 1880)Orchestra plays music this early morn,
Coaxing me back from a wondrous dreamland.
Get up quickly and shine cries the French horn,
As I rub away from my eyes the sand.
Begrudgingly my bare feet meet the floor,
Preferring to return to dream I’d come.
But can’t ignore timpani at my door,
Shaking my limp body making it numb.
Pulling me up are the violin strings,
Creating songs from the birds on the sill,
Giving the feeling of a thousand springs.
Now I’m awake eager to do your will.
You my dearest love, you are my symphony,
Nothing more treasured than just you and me.
Olive Trees, Vincent van Gogh (1889)It’s a hot summer night, I see the moon
Placing its glow on leaves of olive trees
All is alive in the shadows of June
It is good to feel the slow moving breeze
Standing bare before the bedroom window
Breathing in rose scent in the evening air
Listening to tiny creatures below
Grasshopper coaxing mate into his lair
Felt a meaningful grip upon my hips
Sensing desire to materialize
Turning to meet her parted agile lips
Her message is clear as her striking eyes
The grasshopper makes music with his legs
Soon there’ll be bountiful grasshopper eggs
