Notes About The Poem
8/2/2026 for The Logic of Longing Poetry Contest sponsored by Ink Empress
The Blue Boy and the Girl with the Pearl Earring
Just as children catch butterflies for their specimen books, in 1665, Johannes Vermeer captured the image of The Girl with a Pearl Earring, and, in 1770, Thomas Gainsborough caught the soul of The Blue Boy. In 1922, the youths met at an exhibition in the National Gallery in London. Listen:
Have you wondered if logic would allow
a soul to be ripped from “the here and now”
to fly like spirits in dreams or faintings -
or when a torn canvas is two paintings
pledging a silent wedding vow?
On either side of an elegant room,
stood two attractive figures once snatched from life's bloom
by artists who'd turn to oils and flatten
a boy in blue satin
and a girl in Dutch costume.
Said the boy, "Miss, with the pearl on your ear,
won't you join me in my painting here?"
Said the girl, "I'd love for us to be a single work of art,
and you already have my heart.
It would be so lovely, dear...
but, a couple, we can never be.
We're meant to live in our own beauty;
and though, each other, we have chosen,
in cruel time and space, we're frozen,
torn from life by fate - apart for eternity".
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