Mosaic by Heidi Tompkins

Mosaic

by Heidi Tompkins

Brilliant colors sparkle-

You stand staring, speechless

With your eyes on me.

I, alone in this empty white gallery

Watch you, waiting,

Listening to women in other rooms.

Their heels clicking on marble floors in marble halls.

Click, click, as sharp as flint

Sacred quiet, whispered Michaelangelo

A marble statue.

I care not.

You seem to say

Come closer. Come closer.

I move slowly, slippers on red velvet carpet.

One step.

Two steps.

Without a word.

I reach out.

Your touch shocks me-

Your hand broken bits of colored glass.

Your stare misaligned fragments on a wall.

The concrete visible between the tiny chips,

Shimmering like gems in a child's paper crown,

Reflecting the artificial light:

The only glimmer in your eye.

I pull the purple curtain over your dead face,

Study it swinging gently till it rests.

And slip away and down the marble halls.