|
Jan Vermeer's "Het meisje met de parel"
Girl with a Pearl Earring
For bio & more - see Wikipedia |
g i r l w i t h a
p e a r l e a r r i n g *
b y
m a r k m u r p h y
I have undressed you once again
though I have no special prerogative to do so.
I am neither the artist, or your husband,
yet my eyes insist on robbing what’s left of your innocence.
Your mouth parts as you look from your repose
as though you are about to say something
and I am captivated by the perfection of your mouth
as though it were the only mouth in creation.
When I look in your eyes,
I am broken by the miracle of conception.
Neither geography or the centuries can separate us,
neither religion or social standing can keep us apart.
We are alone together, caught up in this moment
like no other two beings on earth.
I feel your breath on my neck, I feel the warmth of your thighs
and I am as far beyond sin as is possible.
What doubts come to us now are older
than any plots of our making.
What dreams are discarded in favour of a sober life
flare up and are lost in an instant.
An hour moves the world off its axis –
once there was a past and then there is nothing.
Griet, I have undressed you once again. What for?
For art’s sake, always for art’s sake.
[]
* after the painting circa 1665 -1675 by Jan Vermeer
|