Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), The Visit, circa 1920-24; watercolor and graphite on paper, 22 in. x 29 7/8 inches, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, Gift of Ferdinand Howald, 1931.115
I walk East in the December Dusk –
East from Covered Bridge after the sun had dried in haze –
The Black December spirit hovers in matted trees –
Misery in the decrepit farmhouse. Pause by another, a woman cackles of trivial matters; yet the sound is interesting and suddenly four miles away the clanging church bells commences to ring –
At another the rich yellow light of the house fell on a coal house –
When I got home, I learned that Wilcox had stopped on his way home from Travis’. I was sorely disappointed on missing him –But after all, man is the great poet, and not Homer or Shakespeare; and our language itself & the common arts of life are his work - Thoreau
The poet will write for his peers alone. He will remember only that he saw truth and beauty from his position and expect the time when a vision as broad shall overlook the same field freely.
Charles E. Burchfield, December 30, 1917