Donato Giancola
The Golden Rose
Oil on paper mounted on panel
-2007
91.44 x 121.92 cm
(36” x 3’ 12”)
Private collection
daunt - #I always want to know the story behind this
Well it’s not very happy but HERE YOU GO. (also excuse all the bad rhymes)
Long ago on an autumn day, two sisters came to life
And one was given sooth and care, and one was given strife.
The gold haired girl was loved by all, her sister dear less so
She hid behind her raven hair when through the town she’d go.
Yet still the two were thick as thieves, and lived and laughed and played
And ran along the silver shore, and raced the salty waves.
The golden girl would stand and watch, but never dare to swim.
The raven girl, by wonder struck, one day went diving in.
And while her sister watched on by, with sand beneath her feet
The raven girl dove further down, her wonders once to meet.
And halfway down the darkest niche, she met a wandering soul
With shining eyes and silver skin – a mereman on patrol.
And for some months they meet and talk, and laugh and stories share,
But he would always have to leave, the sun too strong a glare
Enough to say, they fell in love, and then planned to elope
But just before she took his hand, her to-be-husband spoke:
“Though I can help you live below, where humans ought not be,
You’ll never fully be a part, of water folk like me.
You choose to come with me, my love, you’ll never come back out.
The ground’s no place for ocean lives to walk and run about.”
The girl was well aware of this, but thought within her mind
She’d never belonged anywhere, and ocean men were kind
Where men who walked upon the earth had only spite and hate
And so she kissed her sister’s brow, and took on her new fate.
And for a year she lived in joy, a stranger, but adored
But soon her heart grew weary of endless ocean shore.
She thought, sometimes, when all was dark, to hear her sister’s cry
The waves would carry down the tears, she’d meet them with a sigh
She longed to see the sun again, the moon and stars and sky
And missed her sister’s warm embrace, so fond and sweet and dry.
And so one night, when all was hushed, the day’s sea hustle spent
She swam away and to the crevice, beginning her ascent
T’was dawn when she arrived on shore, and found her sister dear
And then they cried, and then they laughed, and held each other near.
But lo behold, the Ocean is a an envious, jealous thing
And it will take all it can get, but without price not bring.
And so, the girl who could not choose, ‘tween sea and earth and sky
Began in her dear sister’s arms to slowly fade and die.
And while she lay, her husband’s men came surging to the sand
To take away the earthling’s child from harsh and biting land.
The tide went out, the sun came up, and all across the shore
The people heard the blond girl’s cries, behind the ocean’s roar.
And now you know the tale of the girl with golden hair
Who walks along the silver shore, soul broken in despair.
