the fisherman

t h e   f i s h e r m a n

This painting would hang in the main lounge of this dream home, framed in ornate antique gold, longing.

Frederick Leighton would be a houseguest we invited every year, anymore social time would not be to his liking, so every winter we would sit with him by the gigantic fireplace and watch at the wood burning, grateful that he came at all.

We would place black tapered candles next to his wooden bed which would be made from the hull of an old sailing ship and before he slept we would drop some sandlewood scent onto his pillows.

This would be the quietest room in the house, set back hidden behind the pear orchards, only a few people knew this space existed and in the summertime only the bees and humming birds had access.

The Fisherman and the Syren by Frederic Leighton, 1858