John Hertzberg.
Sifting Through the Ashes.1991.
Mixed Media Collage, 48" x 48". $1800.

Summer sidewalk views on end
Washed away
In shades of black and grey
Words of friendship and love
Trapped behind pale cerulean mists
The Copernican sun floating
Surrounded by seasons changing
Pronouncing judgement
On the splitting of the atom
Causing Sagitarius and Capricorn to falter
Lost to the shadows is Virgo
Nowhere to be seen
The Magic man has become mortal
As his gaze lies atop headlines proclaiming
In black and white
Far off in the night
Sometimes terrible things happen
As the Raven is revealed
Safe within his pendulum
Swinging through space
Casting small shadows
Another star faded
And finally fallen
Time swallowing it up
As dedications are made
Like monuments in clay
Washing away
And the Gloved one invents himself again
While down by the Seine
Columbus goes sifting through the ashes
And staring upwards at the Eiffel Tower
Knowing that it is the hour
All the church bells are ringing
Quasimodo said they would
The nighttime air is cold
And rushes by
Evening lights flicker like fire
High atop the Eiffel Tower
Cassandra awaits Billy the Kid
Her heart full of love and desire