The story goes
this last landscape painting by Cezanne, stolen from
the National Gallery of Modern Art-Rome by a gang
of thieves in 1998 was recovered 46 days later.

Worth millions it could have disappeared
from the public eye never to be seen again.
But because of some fine detective work
an art treasure was preserved for all.

Can you imagine a bit of pasty pigments spread
upon a canvas depicting the entrance to an ordinary
house, transformed into an object of great value?
How is it any object could acquire such an assessment?

In your own story
who have you chosen to be: the thief, the detective,
the artist or the observer?
What transformations have you accomplished?

“For what is a story if not relief from the pain
of the inconclusive, from dread of meaningless?”