Piérre Ramon Thomas

Love, to Me

by Piérre Ramon Thomas

(Ekphrastic. Inspired by “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning. The painting referred to: Ask Me No More, 1906 by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema [Digital Copy]. Also inspired by “Song for a Rainy Day” by Angela Bofill)

Ask me not how I came 
      Upon Ask Me No More,
The account of which, a true tale, 
      Would spend you to your core.

Alma-Tadema actually depicts
      A love that can never be,
But, unbeknownst to him, he foredrew 
      The sentiment: lovelorn me.

How much does the bowing gentleman
      Represent romantic poverty;
His neck: the straightest line ever drawn
      In geometry!

So thoroughly does he stoop and bend, 
      So deep and emphatically;
Kissing her hand, gifting her flowers, 
      Begging the lady his eternally.

But the woman doesn’t deign the poor man 
      A mere millimeter of attention,
One could assume her heart never his for the taking—
      A cruel, coldhearted intention!

Her small, white digits couldn’t slip 
      From his lips fast enough;
The looming clouds in the horizon ominous 
      Of a heart soon faring rough.

I, now, am Lovepoor. 
      Address me no more by that French name;
Love, to me currently, 
      Is that fleeting, blushing dame. 

Before the red carnation 
      Falls from my ear,
Love raises the leg for departure, 
      With feelings nonchalant and cavalier.