Beth Ames Swartz - That body and that soul, too perfect at the full to lie in a cradle

That body and that soul, too perfect at the full to lie in a cradle

Beth Ames Swartz
That body and that soul, too perfect at the full to lie in a cradle
acrylic, paste and holographic film on canvas
54" x 66" (1.37m x 1.67m)
2005

Words "hidden" behind central image

Sing out the song; sing to the end, and sing
The strange reward of all that discipline.

All thought becomes an image and the soul
Becomes a body: that body and that soul
Too perfect at the full to lie in a cradle,
Too lonely for the traffic of the world:
Body and soul cast out and cast away
Beyond the visible world.

All dreams of the soul
End in a beautiful man's or woman's body.

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wild Swans at Coole. 1919: from 35. The Phases of the Moon, lines 58-67.