Love as a Chagall

By Michael Parker …when art and love are of one stuff. – “The Poem Unheard” by Amanda Hall Love is like a Chagall— the bride and groom floating high above Paris the blue of the sky holding them aloft with unadulterated joy. Men with faces of animals play violins and flutes and a vision of a young couple a child standing upon the mother’s knee acts as a revelation of their future. And a crescent moon peers around a cloud like the eye of God. If Chagall painted the story of our love, we, too, would be leaping through cerulean sky, jubilantly flying above a city. My left hand clasps your hand. My right hand reaches up to hold the crescent moon, because that is how monumental this moment is. Below us, on a wide city street, there would be a march of revelers, with faces of animals, playing a marriage anthem with trumpets, flutes, clarinets and violins. In the corner, there would be a vision of our three children, yet to be born, standing before our yellow house; the curve of an eye with a navy-colored pupil illustrated upon its roof. On the opposite side a bourgeoning bouquet of flowers in a white vase stands taller than our sunshine-colored house, a symbol of our flourishing love. All the metaphors would best suit our love. All the world participating in the celebration of our beloved connection. Copyright © 2021 by Michael Parker. Originally published in the poetry collection, Diving the Spirits in the House of the Hush and Hush, by Michael Parker, published by the Utah State Poetry Society, 2021.