Portrait of Alicia Galant, by Sandhya Krishnakumar

Portrait of Alicia Galant, by Frida Kahlo (Mexico)

Portrait of Alicia Galant 

Alicia Galant, 
And two bright stars in the dark night,
Categorised in Wikiart as Naïve Art or Primitivism,
And yet, what an extraordinary expression
On the beautiful face -
A pair of eyes that seem to look deep
Into the abyss of nothingness.
Contrasting with the sense of futility and resignation,
A suggestion of an inner calm,
A hint of a light within
That illumines the darkness without.
Did Frida transpose her own soul
Onto her friend's face,
As she lay in bed convulsed with pain
And struggled to hold her brush?
Twenty years of age,
Every bone in her body broken,
Yet her spirit chose to find expression
On a blank canvas,
Not in vituperation against the tyrannies of fate.
Pain transformed into art,
Could there be a more sublime testimony
To the resilience of the human spirit? 

Sandhya Krishnakumar lives with her husband in Amsterdam. An English Literature graduate and a teacher of French for many years, she currently spends her time reading, writing, learning languages and marvelling at the unexpected ways in which beauty and inspiration fill her days. Three of her poems are forthcoming in the Peacock Journal. More at:
https://myeastandwest.wordpress.com/blog/