Robert Creeley: Love

In the Forest of Fontainbleu: Camille Corot (1796-1875), c. 1860-65, oil on canvas, 46 x 59 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington)

Nothing is without place,

in mind, in physical apprehension --

or if "a dagger of the mind" is the purpose,

hold on to it for dear life, or else kill somebody.

Just when I thought I had it made, I lost it.

Just when I knew what to do, I was an old man.

You hear that bird sing in the tree, there,

you know still what a tree is?

Love is a place, not a person, love is

a weather of time, a convenience to absent sorrows.

But talk is the cheapest of all, means what it wants to,

waits up for no one, always goes home alone.

Robert Creeley (1927-2005): Love, from Places, 1990

Landscape: Camille Corot (1796-1875), n. d., oil on canvas 32.4 x 21.6 cm (private collection)

Forest in Fontainbleu: Camille Corot (1796-1875), oil on canvas, 49.35.5 cm (private collection)

Fontainbleu, the Bas Breau Road: Camille Corot (1796-1875), c. 1830-35, oil on canvas (private collection)

An Artist Painting in the Forest of Fontainbleu: Camille Corot (1796-1875), 1850-55, oil on canvas, 28.6 x 24.1 cm (private collection)

Figures in a Forest: Camille Corot (1796-1875), c. 1850-60, fresco (private collection)

Souvenir of Ville d'Avray: Camille Corot (1796-1875), 1872, oil on canvas, 49.35.5 cm (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)

In the Forest of Fontainbleu: Camille Corot (1796-1875), c. 1860-65, oil on canvas, 46 x 59 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington)