Portrait (No 2) (Poetry)

I found the canvas of her face
and painted love upon it
coloured her tender with the light
and let it blend our stories into one.

Extravagant, I used the fresh green pastels of my hope
to frame us round — enclose the rainbow stain
and blued her eyes in memory
as lakes I floated on —
drowned in — swam in long thin strokes
to sink in dawn’s cool rain.

Her gaze is candid — like a question thrown
into the air between us — hanging there —
a wisp of shadow — wing-like, feather-grey —
a gentle doubt ingrained and left unsigned.