Palace of Fine Arts

John G. Young

 

Were they looking

at the fountain,

 

or the rotunda beyond,

or just remembering--

 

1906 quake and fire,

San Francisco restored,

 

1915 world’s fair,

Panama Pacific Exhibition,

 

while war waged

half a world away—

 

maybe thinking

of Seraut age 25,

 

seven years to live,

took two years to paint

 

another Sunday afternoon

on the Island of La Grande Jatte,

 

where Parisians

looked across water

 

statuesque figures

in poses as classic

 

as these Roman arches

fashioned years later?

 

Faux peace, faux settings,

two tiny eyes in the storms of time