Susan Olmstead Wang

As seen in Canajoharie, New York

the gaze of the eyes and the outstretched hand

there is a dark wall . . . flames of a mortal’s light burned from place in the back through this heart of darkness

the liquid light glows on ruffles and melts on foreheads and cheeks

caches of precious tallow gold against the secret thousand color folds of this night velvet shows mortals in their trivial tasks, forever being, breathing in their Rembrandt’s cave

the child peers out from the center of a frosted pane melted by a single flame in this dark wall

noisy actions, silents words flow over the room, separate lives and directions forever bound together in a deep communion of persons

together, strangely one – reaching the depths of their atrium to the real people moving in front of them on the gallery stage

crossing, touching, never knowing until the seal of foreverness comes upon them like a quiet veil

who is this artist that can penetrate time, bring the actors to us, the living, and can so gently ask . . . what is forever and … why is humanity?

1969_4_19 Copyright^R Susan L. Olmstead