SORRY – NO PHOTO AVAILABLE
Claire Powell, on contemplating the splendour of her newly-painted home by Mark and Nick:
To a Decorator
When I consider how my walls had looked:
Full thirty years of griming and neglect;
The flakes and splinters where the curtains hooked
And ledges all with plants and teacups wreck’d;
Sad radiators bleeding at the rim
Most ceilings sagging, spider-worn and cracked,
All colour faded, depth of varnish thin,
Decrepitude in house and owner racked.
Then rises in me hope – joyful refrain:
That brightness, cleanness, freshness are not lost.
All can be restored and live again.
As long as I can still afford the cost.
The decorator – blessed harbinger of paint
Will sand and brush and mend walls – what a saint!
Lindsay:
consequential mirabilis – remarkable/miraculous result
decus et candor – something glorious, looking good and gleaming/honest and honourable
ultra spem decorum – proper decoration beyond expectations