From the Unpainted Series: The Storyteller

The glow from an unseen fire

Is both warm and cruel,

Revealing every crease

In the deeply lined face

Beneath a well-worn mob cap

From which a few gray,

Somewhat greasy looking curls

Have escaped.

She is an old woman.

Her skin dark from days of sun

And perhaps also from her lineage.

Her right eye is clouded by cataract,

But the left is alive with light.

This is a face that would have appealed

To Rembrandt to detail in a miniature

Portrait, perhaps, or in the shadows

Of a larger commissioned work.

Even the vague dark background

Of the portrait before us

Is reminiscent of his paintings.

True to the title, the woman,

Leans forward from her pillowed chair,

Her mouth open with a slight smile,

Her gnarled hands reach out from beneath

The heaviness of her shawl

In a gesture intended to clarify her words,

And draw in her listeners.

She pulls you nearer

Leaving you wishing

You could hear the story

She is so eagerly sharing.

#VirturalPortrait #WordPortrait #Storyteller