Magritte Serves Up the Sun
poem by Donna Vorreyer
after René Magritte’s “The Banquet” 1958. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago®. Chicago, Illinois.
We cannot see the fine linens,
the glasses of wine, the crystal.
We have been called to a feast,
but there is no food. We have
waited for hours. Then the sun
sails toward us through the trees,
a perfect orange wafer of light,
hovering now below the branches,
floating low, a silver tray waiting
to cradle its fire. We applaud.
To call the sun from the evening
sky is no small feat. A bold host
to lay such strokes, to summon
not just light but the source of light
to humble itself, to feed our darkness.