I had a call last night when I got home from Christmas shopping. An art friend, a talented woman who was wise and generous and gifted has passed away. It was not unexpected, but still a blow. I will miss Satsuko, as I know many others will.

Several years ago I painted this image from a sketch I did of Satsuko at a Critique group meeting.  I loved her gesture… the strength & confidence packed into such a small package. It is now in the Lake Oswego Foundation of the Arts permanent collection. I just wanted to post it here so those who knew Satsuko would remember her as I do.

“To Sadness” by Pablo Neruda

Sadness, I need

your black wing,

so much sun, so much honey in the topaz,

each ray smiles

in the meadow

and everything is round light on all sides of me,

everything is an electric bee in the heights.

And so

give me

your black wing,

sister sadness:

I need the sapphire to be

extinguished sometimes and the oblique

mesh of the rain to fall,

the weeping of the earth:

I want

that shattered beam in the estuary,

the vast house in darkness,

and my mother

searching

for paraffin

and filling the lamp

until it gave not light but a sigh.

The night wasn’t born.

The day was sliding

toward its provincial graveyard,

and between the bread and the shadow

I remember

myself

in the window

looking out at what didn’t exist,

what wasn’t happening,

and a black wing of water that came

over that heart which there perhaps

I forgot forever, in the window.

Now I miss

the black light.

Give me your slow blood,

cold

rain,

give me your astonished flight!

Give me back

the key

of the door that was shut

destroyed.

For a moment, for

a short lifetime,

take the light from me and let me

feel myself

lost and miserable,

trembling among the threads

of twilight,

receiving into my soul

the trembling

hands

of

the

rain.

translated by Stephen Mitchell