The Portrait after the Last Autum

[miyako73]

The Portrait after the Last Autumn



I remember you,
Everything about you--
Your hair pretending to be silk,
Long as if overdue for a cut,
Real black, the color of coal before ash;
Your face, the envy of masks,
The skin of ripe olives
But the shyness of brown;
Your barely covered neck anxious to be seen,
Half-scared of careful hickies,
The purple infections of invited bites;
Your proud shoulders carrying imaginary weights
Like a hanger left on a clothesline,
Like a screwed headboard calm after tremors;
I remember you--
Everything about you,
Yet the canvas waiting on the easel,
The palette of your intensity are still untouched.


I remember you,
Everything about you--
Your smile that welcomes the air,
Framed by the window,
Behind the glare of light;
Your full squint when the sun is low
Minimizing the expanse of estrangement,
Recognizing the stranger still unnamed;
Your wondering when baffled
By billowing waves in your palms,
Tiny tornadoes on your feet;
Your quiet curiosity that follows the wind,
The sound of new birds learning their song,
The hummed prayers at twilight;
I remember you--
Everything about you,
But my brush dipped in red-yellow-orange for amber
Can only paint your shadowy outline.




(c) 2/7/2014