Pairings Matted Set - This open edition print and poem set is matted and ready to frame. The matted size is approximately 15 x 28 inches (horizontal) or 24 x 21 inches (vertical).

Philip Conkling’s accompanying poem . . .

Fern Bed

In a secret isle where we had strayed,
Far off the path where others stayed,
We hunted down the giant birch
On the knoll where it had perched

Since Weymouth’s men in Sixteen-five
First found it there alive.
We saw it half fallen now
Diminished by its broken bough

Moldering in the silent earth,
Sowing its seedbed of rebirth.
Till down the hill where we turn
To find a meadow of scented fern,

Which drew us like drunken bees
Toward their sweetest nectaries.
Faint hints of seaside rose
Held us there in a pure repose

Till a line of ewe and lamb
By our bower of ferns they ran
And woke us from our lovely sleep
Leaving ought but dreams to keep.