The Empty Frame

• Stephanie Johnston, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2011

The Mona Lisa watches the crowds go by, smiling at nothing in particular;
The smile still lingering on her lips as the world moves on behind the glass.
The Venus de Milo stands on her pedestal and watches the distant horizon,
Blissfully unaware of what she has lost and what she can never know again.
Rodin’s Thinker poses in deep thought over some long forgotten pursuit,
Frozen in bronze and imprisoned forever to seek what he can never find.
Yet these works of art, however lost they may seem to us who view them,
Do not say a word about their plight and are content to let their lives go by.

Oh! to be a work of art captured in time in all their past and future glory,
Free from any of the pain and suffering humans inflict on one another,
And free from the wounds left by a broken heart would truly be a gift.
Paintings do not have to watch as those they love walk out on them,
Statues do not have to wait in tears for someone that will never come back.
Art does not have to deal with the loss felt when there is nothing else left.
To be frozen for an eternity without feeling such pain would be heaven,
But alas my heart does not will it so; my pain will forever belong to you.