Shakespeare

Quiescent portrayal of the bard

in black dress to brown background

semi-bald the light reflects boldly on his skull

and his eyes look immediately into onlooker's

In an undefinable gaze

his lips glow up under small mustache

and thin beard sees through on

to shaded skin of his chin

Only piece of embroidery is a golden ring

in left ear turned to viewer in three-quarter angle

and the blushful mouth may betray a smile

or anyway some distance of view

From the poverty of his plain clothes

unto an affluent life of the mind.

Xanadu (Ofjaneaustenfame) for Cosmofunnel (May 2017)

(Thanks to oil on canvas William Shakespeare prob by John Taylor 1600-1610

National Portrait Gallery London)