When is it Done?

When is it done?

Complete

When can you say “right – this is finished”

Sign it. Draw the little copyright

Goodnight

 

How can you say

It could not be better

Another word or phrase that might

Improve the form

Impassion the reader more

Are we impatient to let our words be read

To “put the poem to bed”

 

I am ignorant of many poets of old

But I wonder if the stories told

were cast out on a flight as free as seeds on wind

Or if they pondered night on night

Thinking that maybe they might

Just change a line or punctuate it

In a different way

And if they  might enunciate it more

If they ponder for another day.

When is it done?

 

When is a painting done?

What stroke of brush is final?

Is there a rush to say “Hey! Look at what I made”

You know that if you pick once more a colour,tone or shade

You could enhance or wreck the page

And yet, with words, we change and change again

No residue of colour, tone, or shade is left behind

 

At some point, somehow you take a stance

And say “That’s it. It‘s done.”

 

Then let it go. Art is for the mind of those

who choose to peer inside. Some will see pictures.

Some will see words.

And some will see the artist and his soul.

 

© Amanda Samm 2020