Sadly, local artist Dave Lewis has passed away unexpectedly, far too young.
SUNSET WITH SUNFLOWERS
21st October 2022
Never, a right moment for an artist to close the studio door;
For all those vocations – painting, gardening, music, poetry, farming too:
They don’t have ends.
Maybe there’s no primed canvas on the easel,
No paper ready-stretched on the watercolour board;
But the sketchbook in their heads is always filling pages:
Proof that out of that raw seething cloudy mash,
The ugly racing ferment which is time passing,
Imagination can ever distil pure truth, drop by drop,
Clear firetingle inspiration.
Dave, you should have stayed much longer –
You, with your quiet work-alone skill,
Your ‘Give me the key, and leave it to me’
Which grew us that wonderful crop of heartfelt sunflowers.
At drama rehearsals, your quiet wit;
For our history project, your imagined scenes in colours
Bolder than we would have ever dared
Which you could make work together,
Thus conjuring such strong-voiced meaning from silent pigments…
At least, now, no aching need to choose
Between Pembrokeshire and Denmark:
You’re free to go wherever, even drop in on Vincent
Hard at work in his sun-bitten fields,
Perhaps set up nearby and have a bash yourself!
Anywhere, now: it’s up to you:
No need to book, no tickets and boarding passes.
And as henceforth your materials will have no weight
Nor your boards, nor brushes, nor any other gear…
Every day, happy fellow, you can head out with the lot.
So we won’t ever say Good Night, but–
May the light always be with you!
Lady Nightingale