Photography © Linda Matthews-Denham

 

Sunlight

The same we need and praise
scalds after long enough, darkens us.

I don’t mean to complain but it’s true.
The damage done this body by life-giving light

is just a matter of fact —not argument, observation
—sweat unto sunburn unto heatstroke —unto skin cancer.
The whole planet is said to have a problem.

Sun warms the iron and wire sculpture an artist has taken
into an open field, the figure’s pose maybe not intended

as a gesture of pain —something hopeful and affirming
more likely —reaching open-armed toward light.

Am I to blame? That I see, instead, this character
bent to near-breaking and lifting a crown of thorns?

Ask the desiccated leaves at your feet.

Still, I’ll admit there is in this scrap metal martyr
something that takes to sunlight
that answers it, though silent, warm to the touch.

 

Tom Driscoll now lives in Lowell, Massachusetts with his wife, artist Denise Driscoll. Hiscollection of poems titled The Champion of Doubt is to be published sometime soon by Finishing Line Press.

Linda Matthews-Denham lives in the countryside along the Thames River in Berkshire, England. Her passion is photography, photo restoration and art history of Paris. She also works very closely with many British authors restoring images for publication.