Silk Road of my Life

I try to paint the silk road of my life,

Miyajima's red torii

and peonies for my father

how can I paint my mother's songs?

no clouds, this is to target beauty.

At least, include her brilliant laugh. 

I'd add in Abbeydale

if I could paint it, build up

the layers of petals like the

Potbank painters, overlaid in gold.

A swirl of Gobi should follow,

for those Edwardian Misses,

the real silk road explorers.

All China's glory leading to Kashgar's

Sunday market, Kansu street's jade sellers

All the way to Venice with

Burano's jewel houses

glass glinting, silver gondola prows

slide out from between palacios

and paintings everywhere

to steal your breath away.

if I take it further (as I always have)

then this silk road fascination

led to all my explorations,

Paris, Havana, Santorini, Vietnam,

Kyoto, Angkor Wat and the Taj Mahal

(pause for heart stopping, stunning beauty)

and to that travelling conversation

in a long ago arts centre, 

Wowed by Brian’s talk of 

Hitchhiking to Australia. 

Turn for home to Pennine moors

endless beach of Druridge bay

or Lyminge forest bluebells

for coming down through vineyards

of a red-gold evening,

hand in hand.

LMC 2 Oct 2025