hollow footsteps echo
through sterile parquet hallways.
stark walls boldly announce original works of masterful color,
aching with soulful beauty.

each wrenched from brush and palate by a captive artist
who gave hope and heart to beauty,
only to die alone.

quite suddenly
i am face to face with a crying woman
trapped in canvas
’till dust again.

her deeply fractured sorrow
singes the edges my soul
and i know
why she cries alone

_{(c) 2020 BGeiger}