Wild with mist

written by Judy Collins/ The Judy Collins Publishing Company (ASCAP) or The

Wildflowers Company/Admin by Universal Music Corp (ASCAP) when noted.

Wild with mist, the Turner paintings shine

Upon the walls where I will stand and gaze

Embedded in the wind and water

Emboldened by the sight of other worlds

I wander through the softly spreading sunlight

Into another, and then another world

Seeing the heads of whales

Seeing the ships of night

Sighting places where Turner went to paint

Slipping into deep waters, to worlds much traveled

Sightings that would save the wind, the water and the sea

For me to dwell in

Drinking coffee in the lovely old café,

The dimly lighted restaurant where I sip my café au lait

Reading the guidebook to this old walled museum

Pitted with wind and rain

And bullet holes from some old battle in the streets

That lead down to the waterfront where the whaling ships of old

Sink in water to their knees

Like whales impaled on hooks of rusted steel and drowned in blood

Upon the black harpoons

I tip the waiter and go back to gaze

Upon the white misted scenes

That leap like visions from the canvas of the man

Who had a lover in a little sea-swept town near London

Mr. Turner in his fine black hat and unclouded eye

Who spied the magic in the water’s mist

Among the ships

Wild with mist, the Turner paintings shine

Upon the walls where I stand and gaze