Today as the news from Selma and Saigon

poisons the air like fallout,

I come again to see

the serene great picture that I love.

Here space and time exist in light

the eye like the eye of faith believes.

The seen, the known

dissolve in iridescence, become

illusive flesh of light

that was not, was, forever is.

O light beheld as through refracting tears.

Here is the aura of that world

each of us has lost.

Here is the shadow of its joy.

–“Monet’s ‘Waterlilies,’”

Robert Hayden

Which phrase from the poem "Monet’s ‘Waterlilies’” best describes how the water lilies are portrayed in this painting?

“poisons the air like fallout”

“The seen, the known / dissolve”

“Today as the news from Selma and Saigon”

“the serene great picture that I love”