The morning light reclines
Confident in its own beauty
As the body of a young woman
Dreaming on a chaise
Indifferent to the artist’s gaze
And the sighing
Of charcoal over paper
Shading into a pretense 
Of permanence
His fleeting desire

 Soft slope of shoulder
Curve of spine and hip

And now rising
Shrugs off a dream
Of shadows and
Wrapping itself in a white sheet
Turns without a glance
To leave the room

6 March 2017
Vancouver