Ties That Bind

Mary Cassatt's well-known painting
Degas-esque, 'The Child's Bath'
Ideas drift – the Madonna and Jesus
Cleansing, purifying; familial bonds
Tenderness, togetherness, education
Sunday grace, calmness embodied
Freed of artifice or guile
A moment in time, fragile
Art galleries' depictions gilt-framed
– Painters neglected or acclaimed

A golden harp plays in the ether
Reverberating through centuries