Portrait Of A Lady Poem by Tom Billsborough
Portrait Of A Lady
A shade in shadow, her face sallow,
Her lips tight drawn,
She sits alone
And glances through the window
At the corner of the bar.
Far distant thunder clouds
Compose a gathering storm
And the first drop of rain
Slides down the window pane.
A tear forms and then another
And reaching her decision,
She switches off the electricity of anger.
She rises from her seat
Into a loveless future, knowing
She has failed to countenance
This final act of his betrayal.
The rain begins to fall
As she heads home,
Now firm in her resilience.
I could not resist to the temptation and I translated it too into my native language.
I love translating myself. Doing a project with Rod Mendieta re a Chilean poet at the moment. Spanish is my third language but it's fairly good. I can recite the Lord's prayer in Greek but it's many years since I studied it!
A wonderful mood piece, evocative of a painting and the story behind it. I like the use of near rhyme in just a few places. Works well. Well-written. Thanks Tom.
I like rhyme or half-rhyme used sparingly when it fits in with thew poem's intended word music. Only ever written two sonnets. I like a more flexible rhythm and rhyme loosely based on the French Alexandrine.
Oh Tom, you have out done yourself on this one, I was rivited to every line, this spoke volums to me and gave me goose bumps as I read it, this one is getting booted over to my favs. Annette
Glad you liked it, Annette. I must do another puzzle. It's funny how concentrating on something else, makes a poem spring up and usually off the cuff too.
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4/24/2024 10:56:25 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Read it first on Bri's March Showcase and made a note to look it up on Tom's page. So far I've read it 3 times: love it!
Thanks, Rod. I'll be in touch tomorrow. Had the daughter over for the weekend, so I didn't get much chance to read Ph. Apologies to my friends. Will get down to next four translations in the next day or two. Tom