ELEMENTS

An international poet
takes his niece
on school vacation
up to the Metropolitan museum
to view Gauguin,Rothko and Matisse,
outside are March winds
as flakes of white have fallen
with a fringed snow resting
upon trees to be unveiled for us
but this twilight we are fugitives
walking by long aisles
of fine landscapes and statues
along walls of contained art
with a wise style and structure
certain as we ourselves brush by
a Michelangelo drawing or a fresco
curtained for us as an accomplice
in the sculptured intelligence
and depth at each intriguing station
situated in our minds
reaching upon pedestals of civilization
created and incarnated forever
from outlined thresholds of culture
we find explanations of the painters
and their elements of recognition
communicating our enlightened past
granted to us this exploration's night
as formidable color development rises
to shape a parting explanation
through our honorable watch list
in a universe through others' eyes.