Painting Spring

(For David Hockney and his latest exhibition , the arrival of spring in Normandy. He is the same age as me).

I’m proud to share my birthplace
with famous painter Hockney D,
we grew up among Bradford’s mills
with smoke from every chimney.

He vanished off to London, keen
to capitalise on his artist’s power
and then, in Californian’s blazing
sun, saw his glowing colours flower.

Now an old man painting France,
in nature’s international drama,
he covers the Royal Academy walls
with his blossoming panorama.

His eye keen as ever to discover
the details of spring’s miracle,
tree, and bush, barn and field,
he reaches for life’s pinnacle.

May 2021

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