THE SCULPTOR | TAKIS PIERRAKOS

He strikes the chisel with the mallet, and so it goes.
Hesitations and certitudes
are imprinted upon the materiality.
Each time a flake falls away,
Τhe sculptor looks the result in the eyes.
He sleeps and awakens upon alluvial deposits.
Like a ship’s prow slowly ramming
through the dense fog,
the statue is revealed.
The crowd waits in suspense, captive upon the quay.
Every strike contains a possibility.
Do not disturb the artist;
He is wagering his life on a toss of the dice.
He risks execution at any given moment
by the Female Ruler, who commissioned the work-
His own dynastic and ungracious will.

By Takis Pierrakos (all rights reserved)