Stressa

Painting by Fabian Perez



STRESSA


In a narrow, dark hallway hangs a portrait
Of a pale man dressed in black
whose white-gloved fingers
are tensely intertwined,
as if all nights had forever lost their moons,
as if he would forever be confronted
by a darkness
with hoof sounds of unseen fauns
and the sounds of naked nymphs’ silver sandals
that he could never enter.
The portrait rarely noticed by the bypassers,
who either gazed at the other brighter wall
with paintings of brown girls, chariots, and cymbals,
or hurried to the next room
with sardonyx, porphyry, and basalt.
I stopped to study his pale face;
as I looked, he closed his eyes.


Duane Locke

Posted over on Badosa