My Last Duchess: Version 2.0
Every cold winter night
when my shivers shiver,
jumping like the flames
that make my body feel
as if it's on a beach,
my eyes explore walls
of beauty.
Sitting
on her oil-canvas portrait
is my last duchess.
She stares back with youth-
full eyes, which -what can i say?-
bring warmth (even crackling flames
could not bring) into my heart.
She smiles as I recall, with crystal
memories, meeting a kingly man
who (I must say with my ego
roaring proudly) proclaimed interest
in her queenly beauty.
He asks philosophical questions:
"Why is her sunlit
smile like Mona Lisa's,
not extending to her ears?"
"How is she so beautiful,
even with that pimpled stain
graced on her cheek?"
I -with childlike words- simply
answer that her Mona Lisa
smile raises
my heart's temperature;
if it were to extend
to her perky ears,
my heart would be scattered
over the land. Scavengers
would sniff it out and taste
my rich love for The Duchess.
As for the stain dancing on her cheek,
let's just say she's not a goddess;
however, her imperfections
are not locked away
(key thrown away,
rotting like the cheese
in the garbage) in a box.
Still, if that box existed,
I'd treasure it.
No one else has had eyes;
they only have mockingbird mouths,
debating with -I must say a skill
I never mastered- words of disgrace.
"Her hair splits like divorce:
shameful in the eyes
of the children. Her cheek
is blotched with acne
more hideous than a dead animal
rotting in the sun.
I laugh and simply explain,
"...As for the stain gracing her cheek,
let's just say she's no Aphrodite;
however, her imperfections
shine with the brilliance
of a sunlit ocean."
Now, I recall her swimming
with Neptune, and even
though her movements are like a seahorse,
her beauty glistens like the water
she glides in.