Always in the Sibylline Colors

My canvas

Was a barren alabaster

Yet there I stood

Clinging tight to my brushes

Covered in hues and colors of light

Each with a voice

To sing a sacred composition

Of tints and pigments

Deep strokes of darkness

Bleeding and blending into one

That is where her memory lived

As I tried painting her with a smile

Joy to caress her lips

Not realizing that she was happier

In the walking away

Happier as she created distance between us

She my divine dreamscape

And me, her only regret

So I painted her in still life

In sapphire shades of remorse

Always in the sibylline colors

Haunting my canvas

Forever 

Author's Note

Sibylline: "mysterious; cryptic; prophetic"

“The feelings that hurt most, the emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd - The longing for impossible things, precisely because they are impossible; nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else; dissatisfaction with the world’s existence. All these half-tones of the soul’s consciousness create in us a painful landscape, an eternal sunset of what we are.”
― Fernando Pessoa

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

oh the heartbreak ... Ken Simms is also an artist and blends his brushes into his poetry and stories .. i love it ..your use of color and emotions and scenes are full and vivid ... your protagonist is a sad sack all right ...most have had those times ..mine are so long ago they have a very dimmed importance for me ..but the most fiery can be resurrected with only the smallest effort .. damn it! ;)
E.
ps. well done poem owl .. very worthy in my opinion

[An owl on the moon]

Your words are so appreciated, and Ken is remarkable! Grateful that your darker hues are distant and dimmed for you. Perhaps I cut my wounds too often to awaken their deep colors.

[Einstein Noodle]

yeh...we do tend to do that ... we need it sometimes in the process of grieving ..but i think a limit can be reached ..and the purity of a painful experience begins to corrupt :( love and joy my friend owl ... :)

[lessa (kenzie)]

So I painted her in still life
In sapphire shades of remorse
Always in the sibylline colors
Haunting my canvas
Forever

A PAINTING IN STILL LIFE...WOW!
A powerful sentiment of a true light, that breaks through here.

sibylline colors - WOW! such words for a wonderful imagery, I mean can you
imagine anything so deeper. brilliant wording.

Haunting my canvas Forever - LOVE IT, you can see an image that is perfection
but yet imperfect as well, your words long of a forever which has a blue undertone.
Awesome write here.

[An owl on the moon]

Alex, I really appreciate your words of encouragement! Thank you for stopping here for these moments. May your week bring you such joy! :)

[Moonie]

Your voice is so eloquent, and fluid...just like the tones and tints that cover your canvas. I love how you link the colors to the emotions. The shades of sapphire become his remorse, and regrets...
With the line, "That is where her memory lived," you add more depth to the poem. This line marks the transition of a simple sad painting to an artwork with depth, and also a transition in the tone of your poem.

[An owl on the moon]

I deeply appreciate your insights into my words, seeing the lines and the deeper lands beyond. This came from a painful place, but somehow in poetry even pain becomes a vivid color all its own on the canvas. May you find the glory in every shade and hue, dear friend.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Amazing artwork and poem. An exquisitely noir vignette in black and white and red and blue. Eloquent words of remorse and romantic imagery in perfect “sibylline colors”...sapphire tears as she walks away..... Love this!

[An owl on the moon]

Annette, so wondrous to have you here again. Thank you for sharing all the colors of your canvas.

[Bacchus]

So I painted her in still life...
In sapphire shades of remorse...
my favorite two lines.
also reminds me of Picasso's Blue Nude...
painted that myself too.

[An owl on the moon]

Thank you so much, dear poet. Any mention of Picasso makes me smile, so your remembrance of his blue period here has me ecstatic. :)

[Dhaye]

So emotional and touching. This one is beautifully written. Sometimes there is beauty in sadness. Thank you for sharing.

[An owl on the moon]

Thank you so much dear Dhaye. It is true. Sadness has a beauty in colors all its own.

[barleygirl]

I love your poem, so creatively expressed in terms of painting, you've used great word choices to paint the ideas vividly. The quote in your author's note is very thought-provoking & especially in terms of longing for something that never was. So relatable! Your poem shows us that haunting hopelessness while grasping a paintbrush.

[An owl on the moon]

I so appreciate your encouraging words, your understanding thoughts. Yes, perhaps we must paint the scarred places with brighter colors whenever we can.

[Mr.Write]

Expressing pain on a canvas while painting for us, the readers, a vivid picture that went from "colors of light" and "sacred composition," to "deep strokes of darkness" and "bleeding."

[An owl on the moon]

I so deeply appreciate your presence here, Mr. Write. It is a wondrous, agonizing joy that we all bring sacred colors with us to paint the world's canvas.