Respite in Drawing
Living with Nature Center
San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
“I experience things by drawing them.” -Eleanor Dickinson
"Lolo," knocking on the gate, they called,
"Why it's gloomy, typhoon's coming," I said;
And the wind had started blowing cold;
Children are children, bless them, oh Lord.
And I, a parent, a teacher grown very old,
Rose from my armchair to meet the three;
"Can we draw?" chorused they cheerfully
What shall they draw when the sky's heavy?
Dr Abe V Rotor
Facilitator
Living with Nature garden with Rizal's shrine as background.
The shrine depicts his life in exile at Dapitan as artist, scientist,
doctor, teacher and farmer, among other roles.
Who knows more than one's mind and feeling,
more than all the world's hearing and seeing?
They write "finished" when they've not really started;
children are impatient to what we grownups wanted.
As an artist, art's never finished, take Venus de Milo,
or the works of Michelangelo and Vincent Van Gogh.
However I explained, chorused they "Tapos na, Lolo."
Ideals never die, they live in innocence of childhood,
Where have all the singing birds gone after a typhoon?
Listen to the children with colors, they'll return soon.
Children see beauty restored sooner than we do,
and a brighter tomorrow. ~
Author's Note: From the neighborhood these three children came to learn drawing in the course of weather disturbances caused by a series of typhoons lately. School classes were suspended, but thanks to the brief calm moments the children found respite in drawing. They brought home their works, in order to share their acquired skill and optimism to their family and community.
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