Chaim Soutine | 1927
SOUTINE’S PAINTING
I could not get away
from the green
in Soutine’s visibly
attainable
“Man Walking the Stairs”
that silent morning
when my eyes rest
on the museum’s
desk catalog
with a calm shade
at nature’s own shivering,
leaving me breathless
tuning my alto sax
here by village houses
on a fingerless vacation
for only a day
blunted by breezes
wave their disappearances
under most high hills
from branches extended
to trusted grasslands
in miles of sleeping music
sweeping boundaries
now immortal.