We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage / And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, / We Poets of the proud old lineage / Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why ... (James Elroy Flecker)

19.4.21

Song to Creation – Land by Lloyd Rees


















Song to Creation – Land 

by Lloyd Rees


I used to own a large print of this painting,

a very good quality print, bought for I think

$70 – back when $70 meant something,

I guess five decades ago. We had it framed

beautifully, in slim white wood with pale blue

barely-there striations (matching, you see, 

the work; unobtrusively, not detracting).


I loved seeing it just inside our front door,

looking as if it was catching the light – 

the light that was in the painting, shining 

not on it but from it. It told me of so many

Tasmanian summers – though it could be

up around Sydney. Anyway, the critics agree

it might be almost anywhere in Australia. 


It could never be anywhere but Australia.

It’s the quality of our light. ‘A suffused glow’

reviewers point out, ‘shadeless … evenly lit … 

and an open sky.’ As if we here need telling.

It’s the light of joy, the air of the carefree,

the memory of idyllic childhoods where 

always we play in water, be it river or beach.


I dare say our kids would see that painting

and think at once of their own childhood

where it hung and shone at the entrance

to home – not only for what it depicts

but the painting itself (I mean print).

But childhood ended, parents parted

and the home was sold long ago.


Where is this now? I no longer know 

what became of most of my pictures, the ones

I couldn’t take with me. Some went with him, 

a few came with me, others were given

to friends, to op-shops … yet I am thankful

I’ve always held, in my mind’s clear eye, 

this painting of home, of rapturous light.




Image: Fair Use. (Found here.)


Prompt 18  for the 2021 April Poem a Day challenge at Poetic Asides  is to write an ekphrastic poem, i.e. based on another work of art. It was left up to us to choose our own artwork, so I thought of my favourite Australian painters, of whom Lloyd Rees is one, and when I was hunting for an image to use, I found this, which has so much meaning for me.


Sharing, some weeks later, with Poets and Storytellers United for Writers' Pantry #74.


16 comments:

  1. It is a lovely picture Rosemary. It is sad when something that gives us such such disappears from out lives--but sometimes, that joy needs to be felt elsewhere I think--then those things manage to find the people who need them

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    1. Oh yes, Audrey, I do believe so. Thanks for reminding me.

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    2. Such a delightful piece Rosemary--a joy to read!

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  2. Beautiful I love the colours and indeed the light in the painting. Love how you describe the light and the light becomes attached to emotions " It’s the light of joy, the air of the carefree"

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  3. The quality of light. That's what I mean when I say I love autumn, the light hits at a different angle. Thank you for putting words to it. Things do seem to disappear, or appear. My son insists I give things away then wonder where they are, that "I would never get rid of..." I don't believe him! Then, there are things that have always been around that just were, no idea where they came from. Maybe it's getting older, not that we forget, but there have been so, so many things, we can't keep track of them all.

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  4. WOW! A gorgeous painting. Your words add to the joy of seeing it shared
    Thanj you for dropping by my blog today

    Much💛love

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  5. It is always good to have paintings amd photos which remind one of your past life and the great times you have had.

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  6. I love how you've drawn the reader into all the things that make this piece special to you. We get to love and appreciate it through your eyes and remember for a moment the beautiful but transitory things in our own life.

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  7. I was enthralled with what would happen to it. I'm sad you've lost track. I love that the lights shines not on but from within.

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  8. It's a very beautiful painting, Rosemary. Lots of calming colours. A painting (even though a print) you hold in your heart is special, unforgettable. One moves along, one can loses precious things.

    i wonder what happened to my oil painting that once won first prize in a school art competition. :)

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  9. Love Lloyd Rees and this print. Touch of sadness in this one ...all the changes in life that occur... Divorce, moving house, effect on family etc...Enjoyed this very much !

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  10. A beautiful painting, and your story of its time with you is compelling. It would be wonderful if someone were to see it here and contact you! I divested myself of so many wonderful pieces of antique furniture when I sold my home and moved in with my son. I often wonder whose homes they grace now, and if they're still as loved and appreciated.

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  11. How incredibly bittersweet .....

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  12. Beautiful and sad. The special things that are lost or given away along the way.

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  13. Your words are so descriptive! Thanks for sharing.

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  14. That is a nice picture, I'd hang it in my dining room. The boat reminds me of a child's toy sail boat. Perhaps the artist wanted it to be.
    ..

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