Last Love.(Poem)

 
LAST LOVE 
 
Kathleen Olander, eighteen years of age, first meets John Ruskin in 
1857 when he is already an old man, seriously impaired by both physical 
and mental illness. 
 
   I want this winter 
   to write poems after Wordsworth; 
   paint like Turner; and think in prose 
   about art and society as Ruskin does. 
 
   And it is the latter who finds me first 
   in the National Gallery, 
   copying Sun Rising through Vapour 
   as the best substitute for all three. 
 
   He sits for the longest time watching me 
   while I try and gaze adoringly at the canvas. 
   Initially there is no need for words 
   I have read everything he's written. 
 
   Later in the empty ...