PORTRAIT OF A LADY
Cross over on a bridge of gold and walk the streets where lovers stroll
A landscape ever living, a still life never still.
A quaint café, a starry night, a church and river bathed in light,
Blended with an artist’s skill.
But the portrait is the perfect part – The lady with the loving heart,
She’s the focal point of beauty in this lovely work of art.
Sit down inside a melody, linger in a harmony,
Soar to gothic arches with the sound.
Music weaves the willing air in tapestries suspended there
To warm the walls and echo all around.
But the solo is the perfect part – The lady with the loving heart,
She’s the aria of beauty in this lovely work of art.
Step inside a living creed, a storybook where you may read
The tale of all the world in sculpted stone.
The artist’s strokes, composed of light, stained in glass, flicker bright –
Ancient, yet every day reborn.
But flesh and blood’s the perfect part – The lady with the beating heart,
She’s the centerpiece of beauty in this lovely work of art.
She’s the centerpiece of beauty in this lovely work of art.
I am posting this as a tribute to my wife, Faye. Today, June 23, 2021, is our 31st wedding anniversary!
This song arose from one of the happiest occasions of our lives: the week we spent together celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in Paris in the late autumn of 2015.
We saw so many beautiful things: from the artwork of Renoir at the d’orsay, the magnificent buildings, the exquisite churches, and the stunning “Winged Victory.” In Paris even functional things are beautiful, like the splendid bridges over the Seine. In fact, the moment of inspiration for this song occurred when looking in my office at the picture of our family standing on the Pont d’Alexandre. That is when the words “cross over on a bridge of gold” leapt into my mind.
In the beginning verse I wanted to convey the sweeping canvas of the city as a work of art in and of itself, not just containing artworks. My other verses celebrate a classical concert (Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” in the perfection of gothic architecture that is Sainte Chapelle Cathedral) and finally Chartres Cathedral. Pondering and visiting Chartres Cathedral could occupy years of one’s life. I have heard the edifice described as “an encyclopedia of the world in stone.” I see it as a physical rendering of Gospel truth in vibrant seven hundred year-old windows (reborn every day through the fresh dawn) and delicately carved statuary.
What was the most beautiful thing that I witnessed in Paris? It was my wife! She both stood out from and blended in a lovely way with all the beauty. That was the essence of what this song is about. A celebration of artistic beauty, with the greatest example of that being God’s creation of her, “this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”
To “the lady with the loving heart.”
Happy Anniversary
June 23 (1990 – present!)
I love you!
Notes: The image is Faye enjoyed and blending in with Monet’s masterpiece “Nympheas,” at the Musee De L’orangerie.
Bill Maynard