Study of Water Lilies 1908

STUDY OF WATER -LILIES 1908
Oil on canvas by Claude Monet

Green and yellow fill the eyes
water lilies arched by wild grass and shrubs
a walking bridge pinnacles the top half of the painting
beyond it a growth of trees walling us in this one spot.

I blink as I stare at it
but focus remains somewhere in its past
forever in the eye of Monet
gone from him into brush and paint
canvas and carapace.

If I stood on that bridge
I would smell the warmth of a mild day
see the stream clearly choked with abundance
lush green filling the void everywhere
but the path to its existence is lost
this picture all that is left.

I see the weeping willow in the corner
and know why it is there.

Paula Camacho
Farmingdale, NY
American Red Cross