A Painting Where Time Stood Still

Time Stops in a Painting
Yong Wan Choi 12.19.10

Time gone by halts at the hooves
time to come is held in my arms

Where am I in a lifetime of passing years?
this very moment stops all at once
and history, flown in at the speed of a bullet,
now lodges in the surface of memory

Colors bleed into the rice paper
drawing patterns of hue
and a memo scrawled on a flyer I'd rather throw away
looks lovely inside other people's paintings

A tiny seed fallen from a single wildflower
becomes a branch of bright red blossoms in full bloom
and is pressed into a fossil in the rock