If we have moved together through history, then you have always been my muse.
Of all my subjects, you are the one I love best.
After so many sittings, your face has been committed to memory
and I am sure that could capture your likeness perfectly without sight.
There is something about you that feels natural to my hand,
as though are the beauty I was born to capture.
But still ask you to sit before me as I paint.
To stay, and let me revel in the way the light of late afternoon illuminates your skin
and matches the soft smolder of your eyes.
I am embarrassed to let you see my work,
in case you are able to tell how much time and care I have put into perfecting
the rosy hue of your lips,
and the placement of the mole above them
or the gentle curve of your cheek.