Tender is the night

This is the Valentine night when the full moon is high up in the sky , and the street light is glaring in the dark.  I take my easel outdoor at 8 p. m to try to capture the view from the spot  right in front of our house. Unlike its association in  Western cultures, full moon in Chinese culture always has its romantic symbolism. Therefore how fitting it is to have it on this Valentine night. Somehow, a few lines from the poem "Ode to Nightingale "come to my mind by the English romantic poet John Keats. "Away! away! for I will fly to thee,

    Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
    Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
    And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
        Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays..."  

The very first time I ever heard about Valentine Day  was way back in the 70s in China where it was hardly known then. I was reading a touching story when the word Valentine was mentioned. Now in China Valentine rages like a wild fire not fanned  by the flame of romantic love but fueled  by the its huge consumerism apatite. Fengping  is away to teach Chinese at ACC tonight. I feel so bad for not having any present for her for the  occasion . Hence  I take my easel outdoor and have painted this oil plein air to dedicate it to her for her  tender mercy which provides her superhuman tolerance and even indulging  encouragement towards my own almost insane daily chasing for anything that is beautiful in our life. You can find the spirit of romanticism when , no matter how you are inundated by the dull and drill of a daily life ,you still manage to find a moment in you life to lift up in your head to find  a gleaming star in the dark night sky , and find a surge of joy through your heart.