Vermeer, Girl With A Pearl Earring, painting and poem


jenright

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girl_with_a_pearl_earring_large_two.jpg

A turban-wearing girl

With an earring made of pearl

Looks out with shining eyes

With a glance of sweet surprise

As if she's glad you're there

And you wonder if her hair

When finally unbound

Could match the beauty found

In the sparkle of her gaze

In the glory of the rays

Of sun that bathe the girl

With an earring made of pearl.

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John,

(Sorry I took so long getting to here - I wanted to spend some time on this in a quiet frame of mind.)

I really like this idea of putting a poem with a painting. I might do one or another myself.

What is interesting is that your poem draws focus to the value of the girl as a person, nature (rays) and the artist's technique. You make the pleased surprise in her glance get reflected back through reader (and viewer) - if he/she lets the poem in (internalizes it) - by highlighting all the beauty from these different sources.

After going on this little mental trip, I don't think I will ever see this painting again without a pleasant kind of feeling of "Howdy, glad to see you" inside me popping up all by itself.

(But do I see something furtive in her glance too? No matter, the "howdy" is now part of it all.)

Michael

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I just want to point out that the movie is IMHO extremely well made, and intense. I think it's been showing up on Sundance.

rde

Two thumbs up. Way up.

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  • 1 month later...

John,

I saw this painting in person. My daughter, Ayn, and I were in Amsterdam for a week and we took a day trip to the Hague just to see this painting (and view the outside of the house Spinoza wrote the Ethics in). Your poem is a worthy addition to my enjoyment of this work. As is the movie, which I own.

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