The Door Stands Open

Interior, Open Door at Etretat, 1920
by Henri Matisse, 1869 – 1954

"The door stands open in that home,
the special chair for us reserved."

You Know Who You Are: This Is For You My Friend

You went west to where mountains stop,
and did not stop but built a home,
a whole new life that was not new
to you but real as Kansas loam.

Always in your mind was that far
place whence you came and that far place
where you were. Distance you would bridge --
root, trunk, limb -- all the ways

you could say Friend and mean it such
a way no stream could be denied.
The door stands open in that home,
the special chair for us reserved.

Friend, take this small token, if you
will, as tribute from all of us
who have too long remained silent
about your heart and human trust.

by Jim Barnes ~ American Poet ~ b 1933
in The Sawdust War: Poems by Jim Barnes

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Additional Jim Barnes on QK & FN & KL
Additional Henri Matisse on QK & FN

I picked this painting and this poem for today
in cherished memory of my lovely friend Celine,
fellow Kansan and luminous litterateur
~ 55 years of light ~
August 29, 1942 ~ April 24, 1997

Can it be 25 years gone already?

Additional Celine Carrigan on QK & FN & KL


P.S.

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”

by Norman Maclean (1902 - 1990)
from A River Runs Through It