Self-Portrait

The portrait in my mirror,

shows in pentimenti

someone I used to be:

life has painted experience over

youth’s cartoon, whose bold lines

are all but hidden by impasto.

These colours’ oils are fat-based.

The light-source is not kind,

creating chiaroscuro in shadows

under still bright eyes.

“By fifty we have the face

we deserve”, as Eric said.

Ten years later it is clear

how deserving we have been.

I will not reform the image

in the silvered glass, nor make needled

interventions to conjure a pop-art

caricature of someone I never was.

This face is mine, I have made it.