POEM: The Cave Drawings of Lascaux
Would the maid of Corinth have gazed at her painting often
After her lover’s ship had left?
The cave drawing – especially if mixed with fat
Or blood or egg – can last an ice age and through
Another ten thousand years of summer rains
And endless winter nights.
But as soon as people pay attention to the drawing
It begins to fade, as if it were the
Attention itself that rubbed the paintings dim.
Painted with ash, they return to dust
Just by the power of observation.
Fifteen thousand years ago, an artist
Touched these stony walls and by
Torchlight sketched this herd of bison
Thundering across a primal imagination.
The wonder it inspires has lasted
Deep in the caves that lie unexplored in all of us.
After her lover’s ship had left?
The cave drawing – especially if mixed with fat
Or blood or egg – can last an ice age and through
Another ten thousand years of summer rains
And endless winter nights.
But as soon as people pay attention to the drawing
It begins to fade, as if it were the
Attention itself that rubbed the paintings dim.
Painted with ash, they return to dust
Just by the power of observation.
Fifteen thousand years ago, an artist
Touched these stony walls and by
Torchlight sketched this herd of bison
Thundering across a primal imagination.
The wonder it inspires has lasted
Deep in the caves that lie unexplored in all of us.
posted by M C Biegner at 11:01 AM
1 Comments:
Nice post. The complex painted caves of Lascaux are located in the Dordogne region. The awe-inspiring paintings are also described as ‘the antediluvian Sistine Chapel’.1200 visitors daily visit the cave. The initial climatic situation had been re-build and maintained with the assistance of a fully-automated system. The original caves were made in 1980 called as Lascaux II.
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