Sometimes I can look at a drawing, a painting, or a photo of a person and wonder what their story is. My mind wanders and meanders down roads and trails, wondering how it must be to be somebody else.
What is she seeing,
the widow standing on the balcony? Is she seeing her future? Is she
crying and drying her tears thinking of her future life without her
love, without her strong, handsome prince by her side… Or perhaps
she isn’t crying, perhaps she isn’t really, truly morning her
loss of husband at all.
Her gown looks
expensive, elegant but simple at the same time. In a way it makes her
appear more appealing. It makes me wonder what her life has been like
up to now. Does she have kids? Does she
have a job? Does the toll of everyday life bring her down? Is she so weary
when the night comes that she is unable to fall asleep? Lying awake
wondering how on earth she’ll manage to get through the next day. Too worn out to think further ahead than the next day. Has she ever
wondered how fast she can run to the daycare centre when her car
broke down on her way home from work, and she just missed the bus?
Or is her life
totally different? The kind of life I quite frankly know nothing
about. What would that have been like? Perhaps she has been spending
her days planning a huge household. Overseeing servants and gardeners
and whatnot. Perhaps she’s been busy driving her children to
private schools and picking them up to take them to ballet classes or
golf. Who knows?
Perhaps she has a
secret lover somewhere just waiting to court her or her husband’s
younger brother. What is she seeing, the widow standing on the
balcony?
Is she still dressed from the funeral, and is she now mistress of all she surveys? I sense a little freedom in her pose...
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see it too. =) Doesn't this picture just breed ideas and images?
ReplyDeleteSuch a heartfelt picture. Her pose shows that she is mourning, that she sees ghostly images of the past. Is she remembering her late husband and children playing in the garden, hearing their laughter?
ReplyDelete=)
ReplyDeleteI think she has lost her love in a battle. All say that he is gone, that he must have died gloriously. She, however, does not believe it. Every day she goes to her balcony and waits, waits for him to return to her.
ReplyDelete...every day she stares for hours in the direction where travelers come into view around the bend.
ReplyDeleteThere's a whole story hiding in there =)