Memories Now Distant

Memories now distant,
As some silent brook,
Trickle in the mind
Where still waters dwell.

Hair tangled long across
The shoulders of rarest
Recollection and loss
Of one who was fairest;

You float wan and faint,
Still with beauteous look,
Though therein I find
A glint of darkest hell.

And so you gather now,
Dearest departed one,
At this unearthly hour
When you should be gone.

Jo-Anne R.I.P.

From way  back when, another era

Where no longer buildings stand

To hold the echoes of the cheer

And fun in the sun held so dear.

Gone are those carefree days 

Of shimmering blue pools,

Sunlight dancing as we lazed 

Laughed and played the fool.

A different time, a better time,

When less was more; each day

Bringing a new precious find

To gladden our carefree way.

There was of that happy few one

Who better knew what we had

In lieu of what makes folk sad, 

And now that dear soul is gone.

Her name is Jo-Anne.

The Sun Always Shone

The sun always shone
On my mother's birthday.
Come what may,
It always shone.

Today was no change.
Except, of course, to say
That it seemed strange
Again to see the rays

And know that she is gone.

They Came to Darken Our Vision

They came to darken our vision

With their their soul-killing doubt,
Disbelief; their mistrusting fission;
Their scepticism, cynicism and shout

Of bleak, unimaginative emptiness;
Of negative, deathly dark dullness.

They came, this newly arrived throng
Of hopeless unromantics, to bring
Their miserable dreariness along
To our place where we sing

Of things more real than their blind
World of naught spiritual, naught kind.

They bring darkness to our light;
They bring ennui to our hope;
They bring cowardice to our fight;
They bring death to our trope.

They are the modern materialists;
They are the cynical "realists"

Whose perception of our sight,
Our discernment of the unseen,
Disturbs what they find right,
  And threatens what they glean.

Thus our world grows dimmer;
Our view hidden and slimmer.

Yet we recall that other time
When oblivion was effaced
And the only sort of crime
Was one that lacked grace.

Yes, we remember when our mission
Combined with courage and vision!

Reflections in a Graveyard

Not, how did he die, but how did he live?

Not, what did he gain, but what did he give?

These are the units to measure the worth

Of a man as a man, regardless of his birth.

Nor what was his church, nor what was his creed?

But had he befriended those really in need?

Was he ever ready, with words of good cheer,

To bring back a smile, to banish a tear?

Not what did the sketch in the newspaper say,

But how many were sorry when he passed away?

New Portrait of Lord Byron

The portrait will be available from April 19th. 

Click on image for eventual finished painting.

It began with this message from the Byron academic Nicky De Spinoza (not his real name):

"Calling all Byronists with an artistic bent! I would like to offer the opportunity to any interested artists who might be interested in designing the cover for my forthcoming book, Byron and the Best of British Poets. What I am looking for is a sketch/drawing/painting/silhouette/whatever of Byron ... etc"

I responded:

"I am an artist, though not bent, and submit an early expressionist portrait I pummelled the canvas in oils with in the poet's likeness, or not as the case may be, for your delectation; though I am willing to undertake a fresh commission of his lordship if tempted by the prospect of exposure to the preferably pleasing or, if not, philistine eye. My preferred medium is oil on canvas. Rest assured, the pending Lord Byron portrait will not be as expressionistically challenging as my one of Lady Caroline Lamb."

Nicky De Spinoza replied:

"Give it a go, Bish! The deadline's still far away and I should like as many to choose from as possible. Knock yourself out, as our American cousins say."

Whereupon I knocked myself out, using paint brushes rather than boxing gloves. The portrait manifested and took on a life of its own. Whether Nicky De Spinoza adopts it or not for his book cover, I am content either way. The important thing for me is to have been inspired.

A copy of the finished portrait was forwarded by email to Nicky De Spinoza who responded:

"Bish, this is very powerful indeed! Thank you so much. It goes straight to the head of the queue! Once all the 'contenders' are in I will submit the pictures to the publishers for consideration. In the meantime, a very happy Easter to you and yours."

My original source of inspiration for this full face portrait of the poet (he was normally painted in semi-profile of full-profile) was the locket kept on the person of Lady Caroline Lamb whose obsession with Lord Byron is recounted in my biography of her, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Gothic Press, 1992). In the miniature the sitter is looking straight ahead. My new portrait - more akin to the beloved locket owned by Lady Caroline Lamb (and kept on her person until her death) than anything else - is executed in oils on a 20" x 16" canvas.

More obscure and indeed mysterious is an ambrotype attributed to a lost Byron portrait which interested me as a photographer. An ambrotype is a negative image on glass that becomes a positive image when a dark background is put behind it. Every daguerreotype and ambrotype, therefore, is one-of-a-kind. It has been claimed by the owner of the ambrotype that the photograph is a record of a lost oil portrait of Lord Byron by a nineteenth century artist. The ambrotype photographic process (the second kind of photography after daguerreotypes) was introduced in 1854, peaked in 1857-59, and waned in 1861 when the more convenient and inexpensive tintype became popular. Both the Byron Society and the Daguerreian Society have seen the ambrotype image, but their verdict is inconclusive.

The ambrotype of a suspected lost portrait.

The locket owned by Lady Caroline Lamb.

Consider the Birds in the Air

Consider the birds in the air: 

They neither sow nor reap, 

They have neither storehouse nor barn, 

And yet God feeds them. 

Are you not of more value than they?

All photographs taken on 15 January 2016 in the late afternoon.