A Jaded Portrait

A Jaded Portrait

A young man and wife,
Enter the gallery.
She is drawn to a painting,
Most immediately.

She asks the owner,
"To whom does this belong?"
The owner shifts his eyes,
And says, "The story’s long."

She wants to know all,
She has to somehow.
“Please,” she begs the owner,
“Take the time for me now.”


The owner shifts again,
Then begins to relate
The story of a woman
And her jaded portrait’s fate.

The woman was a painter,
Her work sure and true.
Yet never was she satisfied,
With what she could do.

She often painted people,
Their feelings captured and
Most accurately their emotions
Were displayed by her hand.

She gave her works away,
The few she tried to sell,
Never brought her much,
Though she painted well.

Eventually this woman,
Gave up her brush and stroke,
She decided living from her art,
Was really quite a joke.




Then she did one more,
A portrait of herself,
Once finished she placed it
Upon the highest shelf.

From that shelf she tied,
A rope long and true,
I believe you could guess,
Just what she would do.

This painting caught attention,
At an auction of estate,
Once the owner bought it,
He learned of its fate.

The beauty captured there,
The kind that never faded,
Through all this woman’s strife,
With eyes sad and jaded.

He knows it will not sell,
People seldom like what’s sad,
But the young wife surprised him,
Said it must be had.

When her husband looked at her,
And both he and owner wondered,
The woman looked right back,
Her voice echoed and thundered.

“I know this woman’s pain,
My pen’s ink has faded,
I want to be reminded,
And never be so jaded.”

This piece was entered into:

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It was a 2nd Place Winner! Thanks Lexi!