Verdigris

#AZatPP #V

The old ramshackle houses

With bay windows hint at another time

And age. An age of transition:

No permanency for this age,

 ‘Twas like copper sheen,

When touched by breath

 It turned into a blueish green.

****

History captures its glory

As the craftsman fingers a copper

Buddha bust with longing

Lending his name to a dynastic story.

A tarnished coating —blue green transparent;

And toxic,  as, is human touch.

It brings out emotions suppressed.

****

Lady Liberty  embraced

Change, copper she was until

Her skin was touched by life.

And then  she became verdigris.

Perchance Nature’s palette

Prefers impermanence,

Knowing well that all’s transient:

When born under sun all

Must alter anon.

**** 

© Mumtaz N Khorakiwala

8-2-2021

Picture courtesy: https://pin.it/6Irow7V

Acknowledgements:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/11/24/verdigris-the-color-of-oxidation-statues-and-impermanence/

Verdigris: colour blueish green, copper acetates due to oxidation change the colour of copper from brown to blueish green