Lifes Canvas

I would like to dedicate this post
To a very special friend
VAUGHN HARPER who has helped us
all to be artists and whos own portrait shows so well.
He is father of blogger
The "artist Daughter"
who is also an artist..


Sunshine and shadows and laughter and tears,
These are forever the paint of the of the years,
Spashed on the canvas of life day by day,
We are the artist, the colors are they,
We are the painters, the pigments we use --
Never we're wholly permitted to choose--
Grief with its gray tint and joy with its red
Come from life's tubes to be blended and spread.

Bare at the easel, the brushes at hand,
each for a time is permitted to stand.
White was the canvas when first we began,
Ready to picture the life of a man.
Now we are splashing the pigments about
knowing the red and the blues must give out;
Soon we must turn to dull hues of gray
painting the sorrows that darken the way.

Now with the sunshines and now with the shade
Slowly but surely the picture is made;
Even with gray tints with beauty may glow,
Recalling the joy of the lost long ago,
but when the last bit of pigment is dried
let me look back on my picture with pride.

Let me when trouble is mine to portray
dip with good courage my brush in the gray,
After the tears and the griefs let there be
something of faith for my children to see.
Lord let me paint not in spite or hate,
Grant me the patience to work and to wait,
make me an artist, though humble in style
and let my lifes canvas show something worthwhile.

Alex Gerrard (my greatgrandfather)