Lady Of Fayum
Do you know
you are about to die?
Did you know
you were about to die?
Was this naturalistic
painted portrait
upon choice wooden panel
commissioned veritable
painted prior
to encroaching death?
Prestigious portrait
face covering inserted
brilliant colours bright
in far gaze farewell
in height of Roman fashion
in hair styles clothes jewelry
in lifelike rank status realistic
loving verisimilitude memory
attached to cloth
embalming mummy
bandages as funeral
custom dictated.
Noble fee paid portrait
beautifully painted
in encaustic veneer upon
previously prepared
coated receptive surface
contains rich beeswax
mixed with pigments
to retain colour intensity.
Shoulders life beat breast
in pose three-quarter view
head almost fully frontal
slightly tilted far sight left.
No melancholy serene pallor
wrinkleless yet no lip telling
tragedy confessed contempt
in tribute commissioned artist
a youthful time typical death
bitterly felt sorrow not shown
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poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
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