Amy Lowell. The Painter on Silk. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

The Painter on Silk

By Amy Lowell


From “Chalks: Black, Red, White” THERE was a man
Who made his living
By painting roses
Upon silk.

He sat in an upper chamber	5
And painted,
And the noises of the street
Meant nothing to him.

When he heard bugles, and fifes, and drums,
He thought of red, and yellow, and white roses	10
Bursting in the sunshine,
And smiled as he worked.

He thought only of roses,
And silk.

When he could get no more silk,	15
He stopped painting
And only thought
Of roses.

The day the conquerors
Entered the city	20
The old man
Lay dying.
He heard the bugles and drums
And wished he could paint the roses
Bursting into sound.	25