Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Destruction, 1836.
Of Poets and Prophets
What happens when Poets and Prophets show up?
Both write out of their anguish. Their lived experiences.
Be it a broken heart, or a broken system.
An inspiration, an exhortation.
One to inspire, one to lament.
One to sing, one to cry out.
A melody in one, a eulogy in the other.
One perhaps drunk, and moved by romanticism, and the other,
in tatters over the state of affairs.
One is often elevated, the other stoned to death.
And yet, we need both.
We need them to speak to our hearts, as much as our minds need addressing.
One takes us into the fantasy world of art and music, and the other leads us into the grim reality of our world.
What happens when poets and prophets are amiss?
It is the death of creativity and truth.
A lack of beauty, and the end of vision.
