Reading Between the Lines

 

Reading Between the Lines

A picture on the wall
that’s all
that’s that
but its not just flat
it’s not a matter of fact
there’s what’s real
and what you feel

Looking at art
is more than that
it’s like a mirror
you can see your life in
it’s like a window
Are you looking out
or are you looking in ?

It’s a fine line
It’s a sign of the times
When you draw the line
there are all sorts of symbols in it

there’s the artist’s dreams
there’s what it means
there’s how it seems to you

It takes time to divine
just like a poem is more than its rhymes
If you read in between the lines.

By Margot Henderson
(written for Articulate at the National Gallery)