Vienna

Gustav Klimt – The Kiss

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klimt-der-kuss-1908
The Kiss, Gustav Klimt (1908)

Gustav Klimt – The Kiss

You might think
           something of value
would be retained
           that the special character
of a relationship
           would be worth
preserving
           that certain times
and certain spaces
           would be reserved
for what was after all
           a love of sorts
a love that lent
           a lasting form
to our lives
           or so I thought

In my mind
           Klimt’s Kiss
in the Belvedere
           still shimmers
oils with added
           gold and silver leaf
in my mind
           and in my heart

John Lyons

 

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Vienna’s Love Cemetery

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cemetery

Vienna’s Love Cemetery

Here is the place
           where the stone fell
silent as the grave
           Here love died
along with the music
           and the laughter
and was laid to rest
           No longer legible
the letters carved
           in sandstone
all flaking
           all gone to dust
The once living
           body of love
gone to dust
           every sweet kiss
gone to dust
           all time to dust

John Lyons

Time’s petty pace

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Heredia_partil view
Stained glass, (oil on canvas)

Time’s petty pace

Tomorrow and tomorrow
           etched in the mind
the word that appeared nightly
           above that building
on the corner
           of Mariahilferstrasse

Neon strips
           letter by letter
illuminating the word
           until complete
and so it remains
           for a minute or so
before vanishing
           into the dense darkness
of the Hapsburg capital
           only to repeat

At times
           thick white cloud
hangs from the horns
           of the moon

Tomorrow and tomorrow
           time creeps its petty pace
until first light of day
           and the deed is done

John Lyons

Vienna’s past participles

irlandesuk poetry

Vienna’s past participles

The lesson is
            that we are all history
history in the making
            and that one day
we will be history
            our acts finally over
and our achievements
            hung out to dry

Empires fall
            and the palaces and gardens
become curiosities
            the days of grandeur long over
the vast imperial buildings
            with their tall colonnades
and endless emblems
            of power and authority
are empty relics
            of the past

and everywhere you go
            classical white statues depicting
every imaginable motif
            creating a mythic atmosphere
and it is as though
            it was all intended to recreate
a past in which once upon a time
            it might have been noble to live

John Lyons

Vienna’s Stephansdom

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Stephansdom_Vienna

Vienna’s Stephansdom

How to read
      the intricacies of faith
chiselled into pale stone
      every plane every angle
and in the cool silent shadows
      weary emblems of ecstatic energy
of saintly narratives
      and terrifying passions

The names in the inscriptions
      gradually fading into dust
the corrosive way
      of the world
of all life
      humbled by death

What persists
      is the belief
and something of the love
      the kiss that outlives
the tears
      the cross borne with a smile

Through the towering spire
      cold winds whisper
and in the square below
      the carriage wheels grind
and hard hooves resound
      on the worn cobblestones

Yes a monument
       to the warmth of fellowship
to a common purpose
      expressed in dying crafts
an overwhelming art in which
      the devil is in the detail

John Lyons

St Stephen’s Vienna

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St Stephen’s Vienna

The intricacies of faith
      the cool silent shadows
all things seen
      from every angle
emblematic art
      the pleasure and the pain
the terrifying passion
      the beauty of it all

Towering spires through which
      the wind whispers
a message that reaches
      into the depths of the soul
a monument to craft
      to guilds and fellowship
to a belief fixed
      on unshifting foundations
decor decorum decoration
      all the outward signs
gathered under one roof
      the devil in the detail

John Lyons

Rothko unmasked

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Rothko unmasked

 Behind every mask
         there is a portrait
behind every portrait
         there is a mask
sometimes the light
         blinds us to the darkness
sometimes the darkness
         reveals the light
Rembrandt knew this
         Rothko felt this
we can see this
         in Vienna’s great
museum
         if we want

John Lyons

See The shape of Time, Vienna