Certain people came forward to debate with Stephen.
They found they could not get the better of his profound sense.
A life of Matisse was on the television. He was called a three times failure, his art alien.
He failed his parents in their business, his in laws in a court case, and his art was nonsense.
Matisse was impoverished, but, supported by his wife, he persisted.
His picture of her was laughed at even in the avant-garde Parisian salon.
Brilliant, he could have done as fashion insisted.
Yet he would rather be rejected than compromise his vision’s questioning talon.
Who now remembers the stale art of those who rejected him?
The stones thrown at Stephen have indeed become a cornerstone.
You can conform or you can be true to your truth, for the martyr, a synonym.
In that children’s game paper can defeat any stone, wrapping the toughness in gentle love.
The cut outs of Matisse were thought lacking any traditional message.
Now they are without price, such delicate immortal pieces of his courage.