Girl With A Pearl Earring

You sit beside me

And place your hand upon my knee

I feel ill

As you attempt to be comforting

I am only an instrument

On the canvas of an image you’ve created

Powerless and useless

To all but you

And those you allow me to see

You watch as I’m broken

And remove words from my lips

Before their chance to be spoken

I am your servant, your desired

But I am unworthy of your admiration

My eyes, ripe for the penetrating

It is I who will fall

Pure, unbeknownst to all

Raped only in this heart

By the greed and loneliness of your aging skin

You’ve taken me

In the only way you could

And although I’d have given more

My apathy sways either/or

As my memory is far less detailed than yours

The intrusion far less than the fear

The blood far worse than your voice

Stinging my ear

And these, these so-called gifts

As if to be treasured

I recall only one yet to measure

But I’ll take them the same

As I played along with this game

The image you have

Where far more than that

Could have lay in your hands

We exchange stares goodbye

And re-enter real life

Canvas empty

ⓒ 2005 Shawn Michael Quinn