Once upon a time When you sat muddled, with stationery strewn all around you On a windy afternoon, the ferocious curtains behind you willing to sweep all of you away You had asked me what you must paint. And I had entered the room troubled, with my memory impinging on me I hadn’t a clue what you meant. One of your old records was ablaze in the living room Jarring the dinner table, the wall frames and the window panes Only faint sensations jolted us where we were One to the mercy of music, one to the mercy of wind. Something about your house was soul-stirring Maybe it was just you. Broken tributary amidst the rustle of purple papers Flying all around you, and you around them What must you paint. The body, used to cajoling and embrases Had grown weary of all the love. Yet the excrescent veins on the back of your hands Filled me to the brim with delirium You were the subject of my concupiscent dreams Wavering and disappearing like a nymph Leaving me hankering for