Luke King-Salter
Enter Evening/May's Love
Acrylic and pen on board, 29.7 x 40 cm. 2022.
An abstract illustration of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem 'May's Love.' This was my second attempt at a painting based on that poem - see the first completed version here (my third attempt).
This version, which remained unfinished for several months, is also named after a track from jazz pianist Cecil Taylor's 1966 album Unit Structures, 'Enter, Evening.' Taylor's music provided the impetus for understanding and completing this earlier draft of the 'May's Love' painting.
I
You love all, you say,
Round, beneath, above me:
Find me then some way
Better than to love me,
Me, too, dearest May!
II
O world-kissing eyes
Which the blue heavens melt to;
I, sad, overwise,
Loathe the sweet looks dealt to
All things—men and flies.
III
You love all, you say:
Therefore, Dear, abate me
Just your love, I pray!
Shut your eyes and hate me—
Only me —fair May!
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