'Cairnhill, Singapore' 170903

ekphrasis piece

by Charles Andrew Dyce

watercolour and pencil on paper

263 x 363 mm

It was that name snared me, I swear…

My mind drew a blank before I could

React

And presented me with

A blurred mythago of home

Not home in the now-

In the past?

In the future?

A hazy metaphor of stunning force

So unassuming in earthy wash.

This is a different sky

Cairnhill framed by hills

Lush with green

Bursting with life

A solitary focus

Against the grey-blue sky

And so far away

Far away

And so near

As I stand, a second artist

On this vantage flanked by trees

Watching paths unfurl before me

Roads real and unreal

And none leading there-

There to Cairnhill,

Backed by horizon treed, hilled

Guarded by four sentinels

And lying to the west

I am thankful

For the woody support

As I sag on one knee to my right.