ain't much changed

The Most Expensive Picture in the World

We stand in line all morning long to see it,
And finally when we do come face to face
With the seamy canvas and its crackling glaze,
Where the figures hover and glow from a black smoke
Of dried and crusted oils, we are impressed—
How could we fail to be impressed? and yet
With a distinct sense of something’s having failed.
The most expensive picture in the world?
Either we are edified by that, or else
Not edified at all; though someone says,
Just as we leave, a rather thoughtful thing
That might have saved the day if saying could:
“It is the most expensive picture, yes,
                 But only in the world.”

--Howard Nemerov