"A promise"

"A promise" by Hilary J. England, 2012, wood, glass, wax, paint

This artwork was based on Wordsworth's "Ode on intimations of mortality"~

Thoughts:

Immortality, mortality, the immortality of love, and the reality of the expectations that usually fall far short 

of the dreamy prospects we cling to secretly in our hearts. 

A promise, a promise.  The hollow resonance of that promise that echoes through the recesses of our minds...

you promised.  You didn't keep it.  The promise was beautiful, pure, full of hope and possibilities,

and now, it is just a bitter memory.  How quickly a promise or vow can move from the heights of Heaven

to the depths of the swampy marshes of pain and misery.  Beautiful youth is never too far removed to even 

bring hope to the oldest of our sphere with a promise. 

 Promise is the equivalent of optimistic hope, joy, expectation, and the idea that all is not absurd and 

irrational.  

A promise promises to set things right, to bring nobility to an ignoble situation, to restore harmony and

honor.  

Yet, most promises are just wispy vapors, holograms, or phantoms. 

 How strange to find a promise unbroken during the course of a lifetime--akin tofinding a unicorn, 

or a field of four-leaf clovers.  

Yet, we still light up like a child deep inside, even against our own rationale, our own free-thinking 

will, 

when we are promised something, whether it is a large promiseor a small vow.  

Promises still hold power.