Pomona's Autumn Veil
An original mixed media
Unframed, eleven by eight and a half inches
Way back in late September of 2015, I posted my painting of a well know fountain
in my area, which features a sculpture of the Roman goddess Pomona, by Donatello
Gabbrielli. Pomona was the protector of the vineyard gardens and orchards, and many
a glass of wine must have been lifted in her honor. Some Americans think that the
celebration of the Thanksgiving harvest, is unique to us. But of course, harvest festivals
have been celebrated since pagan times and beyond recorded history. The celebration
begins when the crops have been successfully harvested and the domestic livestock have
multiplied and are well fattened, thus assuring that there will be plenty of bread and meat
to last through the cold months of winter.
The celebration in many American families generally consists of eating ourselves into
a stupor and then collapsing in front of a television screen, to watch our surrogate
warriors, fight over a ball, for the glory our particular city-state. For those of us who
paused for a moment to ask ourselves what we should be thankful for this November,
I wonder how many of us gave enough thought to the ongoing war being inflicted on
Ukraine, to satisfy the ego of one brutal autocrat. Ukraine, which is known as the
breadbasket to the world, is not able to plant, harvest and distribute its grains to the
starving populations of the drought plagued, poor nations, and day after day, the
Ukrainian people are being pounded to death by Vladimir Putin's missiles and bombs.
We can be thankful that our own harvest was plentiful, without the assistance of
some deity or other, but we have to remember that our luck may not continue into
the future, as our planet continues to heat up beyond our control. Some day sooner
than we know, we may wake up to drought and starvation on our own doorsteps
Eugene P. McNerney
