lady in red

la Dama in Rosso; Giovanni Battista Moroni 1556 – 60 National Art Gallery, London

Claudia Radmore

four centuries old
this young wife in satin gown
of ruddy rose, a cochineal dye
from seventy thousand
pulverised female insects

though owned by high collar
and boned bodice
she is about to get up
or she has just sat down;
to sit for this portrait is

irritation for the artist
will capture forever
her flushed cheeks
and the honey in her eyes―
a lover must be waiting