It
was in October, 1938, when these words of Rudyard Kipling's poem
"L'Envoi" were spoken by Reverend Frank D. Adams in the eulogy at
my father's funeral.
When
Earth's last picture is painted, and
the tubes are twisted and dried,
When the oldest colors have faded, and the
youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it--
lie down for an aeon or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall set
us to work anew!
And those that were good will be happy: They
shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with
brushes of comets' hair: . . .
And no one shall work for money,and no one
shall work for fame;
But each for the joy of the working, and each,
in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the
God of Things as They Are!
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October was my father's favorite month for painting nature's color at its
peak.
Carol Rudolph Krafft bowed out of this Earth when the
countryside was resplendent. The view from the hill of his graveside
overlooked the Des Plaines River valley, a scenic area portrayed so vividly
in some of Dad's paintings. The trees in the
distance were painted with various shades and hues of autumnal color.
I stood by the grave. Suddenly,
Kipling's poem and the words entered my thoughts. I
knew Dad's last picture was painted. His tubes
of paints were twisted and dried. Perhaps now he would be working on a
ten-league canvas while sitting on a golden chair. No
longer would he have to work for money or fame, and he could continue to draw
things as he sees them.
"L'Envoi" by Rudyard Kipling from Rudyard Kipling's Verse:
Definitive Edition. Reprinted by permission of the National Trust and
Doubleday & Company, Inc.
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