#laurel tree

The Spreading Laurel Tree - Kurt Solmssen , 2004.

American, b. 1958 -

Baronne Madeleine Deslandes

Artist: Edward Burne-Jones (English, 1833-1898)

Date: 1895-1896

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Baronne Madeleine Deslandes (1866–1929)

Apollo and Daphne, 1622-1625

GIAN LORENZO BERNINI (1598 - 1680)

Carrara marble

Borghese Gallery, Rome

***

Faster than she, he allowed her no rest; his hands were

now close

to the fugitive's shoulders; his breath was ruffling the

hair on her neck

Her strength exhausted, the girl grew pale; then

overcome

by the effort of running, she saw Peneüs' waters before

her

'Help me, Father!' she pleaded. If rivers have power

over nature

mar the beauty which made me admired too well, by

changing

my form!' She had hardly ended her prayer when a

heavy numbness

came over her body; her soft white bosom was ringed

in a layer

of bark, her hair was turned into foliage, her arms into

branches

The feet that had run so nimbly were sunk into sluggish

roots

her head was confined in a treetop; and all that remained

was her beauty