Watercolor

You sit for a time
with your palette and rag,
at work on your canvas
of sketchy outline.
Your brush wet with water
smoothes the paint onto paper,
and you wait for the water to dry
while the mind sets and the form evolves
field by field, shade by shade.
Allow no accidental bleeding,
no muddy thinking to blur
the hint of pencil’s outline.
The world reforms itself
and faces you from the page
as you look in.
© 2010 Nellie Hill. All rights reserved
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