Proposal to Persephone
        based on The Arnolfini Portrait

A glistening pomegranate
cupped in the palm of her blue hand,
the other outstretched.

A lyre rests against the tapestry,
a cascading wall of dried blood.
Seafoam silk drapes her body

a weeping willow and me,
an old crow with
one golden band.

She stands barefoot in
a clear green pool
and avoids my gaze.

A fawn, either asleep or dead,
lays at the altar.
The poet's choice hangs

in the empty space between us.
If only I were able to move,
I would take her hand.

Tweet
Copyright © 2021 Michelle Wang All rights reserved
from Rock & Sling
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission