Daily Poem Entries

Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring

Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring

She turns to look over her shoulder,
the light in her eyes
and on her slightly-parted lips
(we glimpse the perfect teeth),
and she looks deep into us
as we are captured too.

Her blue turban with topknot streaming down
covers her hair to leave her face
open to the light,
and gazing at us, holding us,
across five centuries,
with a look, a glance.

A servant girl by her clothes,
nothing fancy, materials thick and coarse,
only the earring, bright with light
and depth to rival her eyes,
no smile, no frown,
just regarding and innocent.

And she holds us rapt
from that dark background;
she appears as fresh and new
as today, a whisper of eternity
from long ago
and yet alive, still living.


Line count: 24
Free verse
For The Daily Poem, 11.04.21
Prompt: EKPHRASIS
Note: Link to the painting: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/girl-with-a-pearl-earring/3QFHLJgXCmQm2Q...

Which I thought rather long but all examples seem to have similarly ridiculous addresses. So I gave you a small pic in addition. Johannes Vermeer lived from 1632 to 1675. In my humble opinion, he was the greatest of all artists, having an ability to paint things with amazing clarity and attention to detail, while somehow including a demand for response that no photograph can manage. His handling of light was almost magical, and this is what, more than anything else, makes his paintings live. All of this is demonstrated in his painting, The Girl With a Pearl Earring.