Gazebo Chairs (2018) Pamela Morris
Oil on canvas
~~~~~~~~~
The Chairs That No One Sits In
by Billy Collins
You see them on porches and on lawns
down by the lakeside,
usually arranged in pairs implying a couple
who might sit there and look out
at the water or the big shade trees.
The trouble is you never see anyone
sitting in these forlorn chairs
though at one time it must have seemed
a good place to stop and do nothing for a while.
Sometimes there is a little table
between the chairs where no one
is resting a glass or placing a book facedown.
It might be none of my business,
but it might be a good idea one day
for everyone who placed those vacant chairs
on a veranda or a dock to sit down in them
for the sake of remembering
whatever it was they thought deserved
to be viewed from two chairs
side by side with a table in between.
The clouds are high and massive that day.
The woman looks up from her book.
The man takes a sip of his drink.
Then there is nothing but the sound of their looking,
the lapping of lake water, and a call of one bird
then another, cries of joy or warning—
it passes the time to wonder which.
Maverick Mist 
Lovely!
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Thank you. 🙂
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Thank you for posting this wonderful poem by Billy Collins and the very evocative picture.
I have myself wondered the same and have sat down just to feel what made someone
go to the effort.
I am sure there was a dream of peace.
miriam
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Nicely said Miriam, thank you. 🙂
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My sentiment exactly. I did a post once with photos of all the vacant pairs of chairs (almost all adirondack style) in the neighborhood that no one ever uses.
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I’m always drawn to empty park benches. 🙂
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I love the poetry of Billy Collins, this is a jewel.
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I know these chairs so I thought it fit. 🙂
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It definitely fits. My neighbor spends hours sitting and watching the comings and goings from one of her two chairs.
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