Peder
you were an original
you colored your world
with landscapes
and portraits of beauty
you painted your world
with panache with passion
you captured on canvas
what it is to be so intensely alive
that one cannot live
without art
Manet and Masaccio and Franz Marc
were your brothers
and the artists
of Altamira and Font de Gaume
talked to you
Peder
you were an original
from the Temple in Agrigento
from the night streets of Amsterdam
and the desperate hunger for love
- you even painted a dachshund there -
from the studio of your genius
you gave the world
vernissage after vernissage
Peder
you were an original
not for you
the dull lifeless joyless
corridors of convention
not for you
the stupid chase
for power and position
for money and image
for you
the effulgence of feeling
the call of creativity
the idea that I am alive
I’m alive
to paint
to sculpt
and to find love among the briars
Bravo Peder
amd addio my friend
Don Burness, Ringe, 14 August 2008
"Portrait of the Artist," Etching, UNH
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1 comment:
Thank you, Don.
The poem is beautiful and comforted me greatly during the service, and continues to comfort me in knowing that so many others appreciated and loved my father.
I am reminded everyday how much Peder would have enjoyed the change of seasons, walking around our new neighborhood in Philadelphia, making his plans for travel, being inspired by people and scenes he would have come across, as well as the good times with his friends and family as life goes on. We continue to miss him greatly.
-Anne
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