Raoul Schrott (Austria, 1964)
Raoul Schrott (Austria, 1964)
Monna Lisa
what it looked like when he painted it is anyones
guess the dark gauze of the varnish the lines
of the craquelure she wears as centuries of tiny
wounds that do not heal but only cut more deeply
into her indeterminate face the sketch
of all loves derelictions nothing to expect
nothing to hope for all memory made to wait
and yet how composed whether mother too young
wife mistress or much-wooed courtesan
she raises her brows the veil however signifies
griefs retreat inward the days
falling about her are all she retains her smile grown
vapid sometimes affectedly ambiguous wearies
of surrender and is full of night: what is left
of names whispered to her nape but a haven
rare both arms pressed to her belly until
she wakes fitfully reluctant and yet drawn to all
whose undoing she has been but clinging still
knowing she has been loved less for herself alone
than because she has betrayed herself to no-one
Paris 18. 2. 01
Tranlated by Iain Galbraith
