Of the Masters

Naked woman lying on the settee
Recalls the Goya, Modigliani
Adorning the walls of an old man’s room.
The old woman embraced by his two arms
Possessed twice their beauty in her long youth.

She was born in the North, he in the South.
They found one another in a city
In the shadow of mountains by the sea
Whose name Pacific betrayed its nature.
Where either dies one can never be sure.

His fingers are brushes to carry paint
To the canvas to trace her body’s tint.
Goya’s Maja, Modigliani’s love . . .
You see her, she sees you seeing . . . then love!

(18 November 2011)

copyright 2011 by Floyce Alexander