John Hertzberg.
Why Past is Past.1994.
Mixed Media Collage, 30" x 40". $1000.

Metaphors like closing doors
In and out
Just like before
The Virgin Child
Lost within his smile
Dates placed within rectangles wait
As the number six floats
All alone
And so remote
While the fault line runs askew
Nearly tangent
But changing hue
Covering the past
And all that we knew
A metal ball goes rolling by
Caught between St. Patrick
And the answers to why
Past is past
When leopards changed their spots
High atop grassy knolls
Like building blocks
Where names and dates
Go tumbling down
And dreams submerge
Within the shadowland
Waiting to climb upon the carousel
Watching it go round and round
It never stops inside the mind
The brass ring just out of reach
Off in the distance
A wild bird does screech
The umbilical cord of thought
Running through lines of confusion
Even doubt
While Cassandra floats
Upon lavender strokes
Parallel to numbers of note
Present and past
A perfect antidote
And the sweet sound of slumber
Bringing to a close
Day by day
Eternal
Like a rose