My Faceless Potrait

Originally posted on Medium

Source: Google Images

I have a faceless portrait
One I’ve been holding close
For far too long
Etched over years, touched over every now and then
With each new dawn
The lines grow clearer
A faceless portrait hanging on a pedestal
Across my hallway
Waiting to come alive.
Beaming with pride and
Embellishing the sides
I only need a face to completion.

So I set out to find one
Walking through the crowds,
Glancing at passersby
Wondering if their boundaries would dissolve into my mellow sketch
What a special face it may take to fit
What would it be like?
Quizzical? Laughing?
One that belies a thousand secrets
Yet lights up an entire sky
Eyes that betray the depths of an ocean
Scars that speak of wars timeless
Or thready wrinkles that spill exhaustion

I did find faces in the crowd
Some eager to try
Some reluctant to fit
Some total mismatches
Some tried to shatter my portrait

Bitterness had made me hard
To accept what is natural
As I force my template
Not wanting your appendages, your extras
Not wanting to figure out what that is you
Impatient, I rather clip your edges and weed your branches
Wipe your slate clean and plant my seeds

It is too much to ask I know
But I spent a lifetime painting
And I will happily spend another waiting
Adoring my faceless portrait on the wall
One that may never be done
Perfect even if partial
Than take you as you are.