Today’s Whitworth Advent post is a 2-in-1; a painting and a poem, both created by Aisling from the Visitor Team, to evoke the more reflective aspects of the holiday period. Something to feast your eyes on and give you food for thought!

The Silk Road – Oil on wood with mixed media. 

Across the landscape we came,

From a desert directed by the heavens.

Carried with a bitter cold,

Guided by an ancient canopy.

Dragging Yuletide joys of a pagan past,

Bellies full to mark deaths and births.

It is to them we raise a glass,

For imagined progeny and parents lost.

Snaps of cold, but not the gentle beats of heart.

Your face is growing old,

But the night is as young as you are.

So, we continue to walk in the absence of sight, across mountains.

The oil painting and poem connect the biblical journey of the three wise men to how the holiday season marks a reflective period for many. One that is a collective journey based in hope, birth, loss, and above all, the search for joy.  

–Aisling