A Portrait !

Whenever he enquires of solitude
loneliness surrounds him like an Octopus
but then
he looks at her portrait
in his wallet
he brushes her eyelashes in the portrait
like an artist
with utmost care,and
stretches them
to where no one lives, but him.
Then soon
A lady stands against him
silent, blushed and smiling
asking
"are you really alone without me?"
he says, "yes", and
the lady disappears
in the fog of his self-made characters
in the portrait.


Farid Gul, London, 19th January 2010