The Panther
His gaze, going past those bars, has got so misted
with tiredness, it can take in nothing more.
He feels as though
a thousand bars existed,
and no more world beyond them than before.
Those supply powerful paddings, turning there
in tiniest of circles,
well might be
the dance of forces round a center where
some mighty will stands paralyticly.
Just now and then the pupils' noiseless shutter
is
lifted. - Then an image will indart,
down through the limbs' intensive stillness flutter,
and end its being in the heart.
Rainer Maria Rilke, 6.11.1902
April Norman has her BFA degree from Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. From 1998 to the present day she has been commissioned to paint the murals seen all around St. John's. She has also been involved in set painting for recent film and television productions here.