Silent Witnesses

Silent Witnesses

Artist:       Claude Chapdelaine

Title:         Silent Witnesses

Medium:   Pen ink

Year:         1983

Size:          8"x11"on grey drawing paper

Price:        Not for sale

Here is a poem I wrote to describe what I was feeling when I completed this ink drawing:

Near or Far

They are many

They've come to see hopelessness, expecting defeat

They've come in Silence, Faceless

They are the ones who brought him down with cutting edges

trusting that he will no longer be Him-self

to stop his way of thinking and believing

to stop his voice from speaking, his lungs from breathing

to stop his good heart, from loving and soaring

to stop him in his mid-step, from moving forward

to stake him into one position 

and claim him as one of their own

to render him Silent 

Obedient

    

The sitting buddha takes on many forms, its spirit adapts

Prayer, it comes bearing gifts in difficult circumstances

He is Zoned out on a sandy beach a million miles away

remembering what its like to be Himself,

contemplating the book of Verbs,

reciting softly the mantra he learnt as a boy

listening to his heartbeat

embracing the winds and murmurs that come his way

whispering his Name

NOISE

Wikipedia has the following for a definition on Allegory:

Allegory has been used widely throughout the histories of all forms of art; 

a major reason for this is its immense power to illustrate complex ideas and concepts 

in ways that are easily digestible and tangible to its viewers, readers, or listeners. 

An allegory conveys its hidden message 

through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, and/or events. 

Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric; 

a rhetorical allegory is a demonstrative form of representation conveying meaning 

other than the words that are spoken.