Isabella and the pot of Basil
(William Holman Hunt)
Open University - Humanities Studies - 2000
The gallery is empty, except for gilded frames
Containing early portraits with half forgotten names.
Who stare with mute expression at the gazer standing there,
To see the lines and creases and the dark unruffled hair.
The chiffon and the sable, the bronze bowl in the hand
That tells a silent story of a past and distant land.
A frozen captured moment, caught in time and space,
Bound up in oil and Canvas, a message on her face:
I am an artist's subject, with brush strokes from the heart,
Your love is unrequited, because I'm fucking art!
