From the fields of flax

the bogs of cranberries

basic provisions from nature

crimson pigment, oil for the canvas

daubed upon hog hair brush

a portrait's cheeks, aglow with blush

Mary Belfort's scarlet gown

in Toulouse-Lautrecs'

rendering of the same

glowing red poppies

populate the fields

of a master's landscape

cranberries and flaxseed oil

powerful allies

to an artist's eyes

as he toils with defintion

on canvass with brush and oil

crimson upon linen

and the eyes are riveted

electric flashes pulsate through the mind

of all that gaze upon

what the artist left behind

all of the crimson, there by design

stark, surreal evidence

of the flow of life therein

to the cranberries

the artist must give in

for their crimson is a powerfull elixir

a place for his art to begin