Elizabeth of the Raspberry Orchids

 

Elizabeth of the raspberry orchids

who is the old soul who lives in your shadow

as you paint your delicate flowers on squares of silk

holding them up to the window

the sun shines through pink petals and green leaves

tattooing your face and neck

 

surely it is you there

always new

with hair black and liquid as Chinese ink

fingers like the branches of a jade tree

and laughter that pours softly

as if from an earthen tea pot

who is the ancient ancestor, asleep in the bamboo grove

that wakes and looks out from your water-moon eyes

and tints your smile with wisdom?

 

 

Victoria Twomey is a poet and an artist. Her poems have been published in several anthologies, in newspapers and online including Sanctuary Magazine, BigCityLit, PoetryBay, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, The Tipton Poetry Journal, Verse-Virtual, the Agape Review, and the Trouvaille Review. Her poem "Pieta" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

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