Self and Shadow (wood, pocketknife, autumn 2011)

Inspired by a poem by Charles Paget Wade (see below)

 

   

Craftsmanship

Charles Paget Wade (1883-1956)

 

Some ever would be where they’re not

Would ever have that they’ve not got

True  happiness  – contended mind

Sufficient near at hand will find,

Absorbing interests lie all around

Will by observant mind be found

Create something however small

There lies the truest joy of all

When brain and hand together strive

Real happiness becomes alive

In the pursuit the pleasure lies

The how and where-fore to devise

Though vision dreamed will far excell

The work achieved, yet it is well,

To have attemted is not in vain

Failure drives one on again

Great craftsman, asked once , to decide

Which was his greatest work,  replied

Simply with these two words  “my next”

For “ever better was his text”