The Room on the Courtyard, by Diane Fahey

La Chambre sur la Cour, by Gwen John (England) 1908

The Room on the Courtyard 

Room, Courtyard 

Windows open on a courtyard, 
the room's one source of light. 
A window in the facing wall 
frames another dusky room, 
the glaze of a hung picture.
 
The light on that courtyard wall: 
you could search, as I have, 
among whorled tints of 
dahlias, roses, but never find 
an answering shade of gold. 

Look to the art of Byzantium,
perhaps? – an icon of, say, 
Madonna and Child, 
calmingly present within 
a timeless radiance. 

Gold, a way for light to live 
in sacred darkness. 
                             Now, here, 
wearing this hour's fresh sunlight, 
ancient light enters, bestows 
an everyday transcendence. 

A Woman Sewing 

That living gold points up 
a woman in silhouette, 
a net curtain embroidering 
the window's pure gaze, and –  
muse on a wicker throne – her cat.

The woman – who might be 
the artist herself or countless 
other women, then or whenever –  
is bent to the task of 
fabrication, of mending, remaking. 

She angles her body 
just enough to catch 
the visiting light, to work by it. 
The enigma of self-composure 
set forth in the painting 

is deepened by the black 
monotone of her gown –  
redolent of abnegation, yes, 
but richly enveloping, its power 
that of the boundless unknown. 

Fireflies 

I don't pretend to know anybody well. 
People are like shadows to me and I am a shadow. 
– Gwen John 

But true solitude allows for 
other kinds of companioning. 
In her life as an artist, 
Gwen John imaged women 

in serene, delving contemplation: 
seekers, sufferers, fellow-artists 
and the friends of her last years, 
the robed sisters of Meudon. 

And always, she dwelt in rooms 
such as this where shadows 
meet the given light softly, 
as if a pact had been made.

Once, when young, holidaying 
in Dorset, Gwen John, 
out on the cliffs in moonlight, 
wove fireflies into her hair. 
​
The light of nature, of whatever kind, 
a revelation, always. 
Darkness: its backdrop and servant, 
its antagonist, its lover.

Diane Fahey
​
​Diane Fahey, an Australian poet, is the author of sixteen poetry collections, most recently The Light Café, published by Liquid Amber Press in 2023, and Sanctuaries, published by Puncher & Wattmann in 2024. She has received various awards and fellowships for her poetry, including the ACT Government’s Judith Wright Prize, and has been short-listed for six other major book awards. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from UWS for her study, 'Places and Spaces of the Writing Life.' <dianefaheypoet.com>