The Artist Poem by jan hansen

The Artist


On the terrace in the building across the road
a woman is sweeping her terrace; on another terrace
one the floor up, a woman is watering her plants
There is an endlessness about these domestic duties
monotonous and repetitive from Africa to India
The picture is the same, women need to keep order
and add beauty to their life
Order is important armies know that, but their aim is
to destroy an enemy, in this undertaking, no beauty.
Except perhaps, many soldiers enjoy the tough look
of a military parade, a masculine heart swells
Artists have female hearts they seek beauty whether
in painting, poetry or prose; even the fabled
Hemingway, whose private life preceded his fame
found beauty when seeing a butterfly sitting on a straw.