I tried to capture reality;
                                     my reality:
                                                       you.
    But it’s so hard, harder than you think,
                to find a moment in a lifetime;
                           a lifetime in a moment.
I tried to cage that moment;
                                     your moment:
                                                        me.
But it was so hard, harder than I thought,
                            to fight the urge to fly;
                                     the urge to stay.
It’s all too much. I hesitate;
       Fingers clumsy with cold and hunger.
The brush slips and paint
                                 spills
                                     over the canvas.
Seeping, soaking, into my flesh;
                   the earth beneath my hands.
I see you there:
                       a Great Picture,
                                             illuminated.
Alone in the dark
               I can almost feel you breathing.
Absorbed in your self-portrait
                              you don’t see me,
                                                so eager.
Desperate to find something of myself
                                            in those strokes;
                                                         something of myself
                                                                                   in you.
It took me far too long to realize:
                          You are just a moment;
That fleeting
               imperfection
                         In my moving panorama.
Too large for one canvas
            Too small for these widened eyes.