Masked Olivia
The sleeping lady whose closed eyes
Conceal the wisdom of the wise
Contain the laughter children know
And barricade a world below
Keeps in closed eyelids cool release
And in her heart a realm of peace
Art-Colored Glasses
Original poetry, essays, artworks, photographs & musings on whatever moves me…
Art-Colored Glasses 
Oooh, one of my favorites of yours, Kathryn – both the drawing and the poem. Must share! Just lovely. XO
đŸ™‚ Your encouragement never ceases to amaze and comfort me! xoxo!
Who is Olivia?
I originally wrote the poem in response to a very different artwork, a lovely decorated life mask my grad school colleague and friend made of his sixteen year old daughter Olivia. Libbie was such a sweet and charming girl (and came to live with her dad 5000 miles or so from home in Australia during his grad studies, so I was privileged to meet them both) and the mask so peaceful that the poem arose from that ease and affection. The ceramic mask broke in the kiln–the reason I cadged it off of John successfully when he was hoarding his work like the other two of us for our thesis exhibitions–and later it broke further, so I had no good photo of it with which to illustrate the poem and went with a more universal type for the occasion of publishing it.
Of course, your question immediately brought John and Libbie happily to mind, but also ‘Who is Silvia?’, one of my favorite Shakespearean songs, especially as set to music by George Shearing. My husband’s University Singers performed the Shearing set this spring and it’s on YouTube–go to 9:00 to hear just the setting of Who is Silvia, if you like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl5gfa4cjdA
That’s a great version of “Who is Silvia.” Thanks for letting us hear it, and as a bonus we got to see Mr. Sparks in action.