This is the frame:
Soft semi-tropical night,
clear, star-speckled,
a magical backdrop
for a platinum moon as large as a dream;
a muted band plays in a distance
that is punctuated by gentle laughter.
The song is Stoloff: Moonglow/Theme from “Picnic”.
This is the picture:
Small boy, dressed in old worn clothes.
Poor boy, but in a caring family
where life was no more
than subsistence, leavened by love.
This is the wall upon which the picture hangs:
Flags on battlements, crises, pain.
False prophets, monsters, sterile plains.
Struggle, anguish, loss, and fear.
Knowledge, travel, learning, growing.
Love, and the beginning of understanding.
Peace, with tranquillity on the top of a hill,
overlooking a harbour
on the North Atlantic.
