You Alone Will Do

I wanted

to paint one person.

I looked at the face,

I looked at the shoulders.

The way they sat

stayed with me.

And yet

once it was on the canvas

both sides looked too empty.

Should I put in a table.

Should I set down a vase.

I looked

around the room.

The model asked,

“Shall I

move a little to the side?”

“No.

Stay as you are.”

Even as I said it

I was not looking at the person.

I kept looking

only at the two sides.

The person

waited in the same pose.

The model said,

“Do I

look too small?”

I turned the eyes

that had been roaming the room

to the person.

What was small

was not the person.

The canvas

was too large.

I

sat down facing them again.

“You alone

will do.”

I loosened the stretcher.

I folded the cloth inward

and tacked it again.

The two sides

came in.

The shoulders I first saw

came back.

No ready-made frame

would fit.

I had a frame

made to measure.

The person

never moved from the place

where they first sat.

All that changed

was the four edges.