A Country Road - David Hockney vs Edna O'Brien

Last November I came across an article about David Hockney's recent paintings, one week after an article about Edna O'Brien's latest novel. The image of this poem comes from a Hockney painting, the first line is taken from O'Brien's novel.

"A country road, tarred very blue"
the writer said, and I believed,
for had I not last week conceived
a country road like that? When you

can think about the tarmac lane
in terms of colours it won't hold:
the greens of summer leaves, the gold,
the yellow flowers, what remains?

The sky, its saturated height,
which spills and stains this artist's eye,
so even darkened lanes that lie
in shadow splash the bluest light.

Roy