The Wine Spilled Everywhere

Le Vin S'est Répandu Partout

Some flowers lay strewn across the table, petals wilting where they had fallen and their warm colours harmonising with the dark pink stain that now marked the bleached, dry wood. The bottle of wine, once filled with the laughter of the evening, lay on its side. The last remnants spilled across the surface. The table had absorbed the wine slowly leaving a visible reminder of the night; an evening of joy, of laughter, of stories shared and times remembered.

Now, silence. The guests were gone and each asleep in their own quiet spaces. She stood alone in the kitchen. Her finger traced the outline of the wine stain, swirling through its imperfect edges as if the pattern itself could hold onto the fleeting moments.

Carefully, she began to gather the stems, placing them back into the vase and rearranging the bouquet. Life, she thought, was made of these little segments -the fragments of joy and the pauses in between. The leaves and petals brought her back to a time but they also carried her to another day. One time being lost to make way for another. 

Art by Jules Smith. Prints available for sale in the gallery collection.