9 Lanterns, 1 Moon

The Lantern Bearers, Maxfield Parrish 1908

105 years after Maxfield Parrish painted this, I finally got to see it in person. I am 38---so was Maxfield Parrish the year he completed it. It hangs on its own wall at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR.

I was searching for the painting and came around the corner where it instantly knocked the pause in me. I immediately felt ultra elated---and then after a few minutes of standing directly in front of it, my elation gave way to the keen realization I just can't get close enough to satisfy whatever this painting evokes in me.

Susan really wants me to reach in and take this particular lantern from her.

It's like when I stood on the Great Wall in 2006. There I finally was...and the moment was so surreal I couldn't take it all in.

The only "lantern" even Susan cannot touch.

Such storybook foliage surrounds such detailed expression.

Susan finds honor and joy in the moment. She begs me to do so, also.

Ultimately, we both exist in the light of the real thing.

It touches us.