Cyanea barbellata (Dalliance)
1997
Oil on canvas
38 x 51 in.
by Richard Howard
I offer hours of pain and pleasure mixed,
black at heart, yet azure in the eye.
My thorns are few, and yet my thrall is fixed:
no lover is my enemy.
This poem was written to title and accompany the painting in the book black at heart, yet azure in the eye.
My thorns are few, and yet my thrall is fixed:
no lover is my enemy.
Another Language of Flowers (New York: George Braziller 1998).