The Smile of Mona Lisa

The Smile of Mona Lisa

The smile, held back,
vanished for a moment and slid,
to hide behind the eye-lids,
 then descended to the lips
and played around the contours of her mouth,
flipping around the corners
to disappear in the shadows
of silence that sealed the lips.
A beguiling play the shadows make
when the model sits in endless sessions
hiding the persona in the fleeting encounters
between the soul of the object and the gaze of the artist.
What is revealed is a mystery
forever wrapped away
in the moments sealed, and given away
to the secret bond of silence
that briefly touched the two alien minds
who were trying to decipher the silence
that united them.
The faintest shadow that played around
below the eyelids and spread its gloom,
an augury of the invisible Time ,
the Time that smiled and warned to watch for the signs of age,

caressed the visage and stayed behind.
The portrait, complete, defied age,
while the tremor remained
to speak of a mystery throbbing alive,
the fear of aging and death, caressed the visage and stayed behind the overlaid paint.
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