Chagall's Poet with the Birds by dl mattila

Poet with the Birds, by Marc Chagall, 1911.

Chagall’s Poet With the Birds
 
The wistful poet implored, “Please sing to me
of windswept sapphire skies and phantom wings,
of gold-spun silk beneath the emerald trees,
and glowing fields of stained glass shimmerings,
glimmers of blade and leaf. In tapestries
that float above the village green, where magic
flute and troubadour weave reveries,
reveal young lovers cast upon a mystic
sea, whispering words of love. Paint me
a medley of dappled blooms in floral bouquets
where lyrics nest like childhood memories
of fragrant sweetgrass, warm-wind summer days.”
The painter knows the poet with his muse
awash in azure shades of luminous blues.
 
dl mattila
 
dl mattila is the author of Quietus, a collection of poems. She holds an MA in Writing from the Johns Hopkins University.

This poem was first published in Blast Furnace.