The Haunted Gazebo
by RC DeWinter
Title
The Haunted Gazebo
Artist
RC DeWinter
Medium
Painting - Digital Oils-paintography-photopainting
Description
Copyright 2017 RC deWinter ~ All Rights Reserved
The Anniversary
Despite the pain of age, infirmity and heartbreak
I make the pilgrimage every year.
The gazebo still stands,
gussied up with lights for All Hallows' Eve,
but I wait until the masked and drunken revellers
have moved on to bars or beds.
I need silence for my vigil.
It's been sixty-seven years I've been coming
to mark the night you handed back my heart.
Your unexpected decampment left me unable to love again,
despite the many that pursued me and the frantic urgings
of those who found my spinsterhood insupportable.
Eventually they gave it up; eventually they died.
You owned me so completely that inside my chest
beats nothing but a hollow husk
with no care for the attentions of another.
I have lived well on all that money you first craved
and then forsook in favor of your freedom,
comfortable in all the ways of life but one,
and that one brings me back each year
to rip the wound afresh and validate my breathing.
I take care not to be seen.
Sometimes a latenight stray will spy me
sitting shadowed all in black, attired in a copy
of the cloak and gown from all those years ago.
Next day come reports, foolish stories
of the Ghost of the Gazebo back again.
I suppose it sells newspapers.
I do not even know if you still live,
but that's of little consequence.
I do, and will mark the end all of my hopes,
the defining boundary of my life,
until I either cannot walk
or have shed this sorry shell and gone
wherever stubborn brokenhearted people go.
~ copyright 2017 RC deWinter
The bandstand in White Point Garden at the the tip of the Battery in Charleston, South Carolina glows eerily on a quiet autumn night. Known as the Williams Music Pavilion, it was commissioned by Martha Williams Carrington and built in 1907 as a memorial to her parents. Reiimagined and painted from a photograph shared by my G+ pal Mister Steve,
This painting has been FEATURED in
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Thanks to the group hosts for their encouragement and support.
landscape, gazebo, night, trees, lamp, park, architecture, vintage, path, trees, Charleston, South Carolina, night, lamplight, bandstand, RC deWinter, deWinter
Uploaded
January 29th, 2017
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Viewed 3,847 Times - Last Visitor from Beverly Hills, CA on 03/19/2024 at 5:36 AM
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Comments (54)
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations,! Your artwork has been Featured by the - ABC Group U IS FOR U in The Title Week!. You are invited to archive it in the Feature thread LF
Nikolyn McDonald
Another haunting story and a terrific image to go with it. I love the centered composition, the strong contrast of light and dark, and the mood. Congratulations on the sale.
RC DeWinter replied:
Thanks, Nikki...this was one of those images that had to b significantly remade. The biggest one: I painted in the lamppost and light to replace a huge flash glare coming from the top of the gazebo. I'm glad you think my repairs work well.
Patricia Taylor
The lovely mystery in your work is delightful! This wonderful artwork could be in a storybook. The poignant description is beautifully haunting. L and Shared.
Bunny Clarke
I love this gorgeous and lonely gazebo painting. I also love your poem about the pilgrimage. I finally gave those up for Lent. Forever. :o)