Portrait

When drawing a portrait, a face is reduced to a landscape of lines
The persona abolished momentarily
the subject yields to physicality.

When drawing the eyes
The artist plunges into the subject
and all demarcation dies
       —His mind, his anima
laid bare in a cacophony of folds
         —between the brows, around the eyes, within them.
Set to behold, all that a soul withholds.

When drawing the mouth
The subject's unspokens spill
His thoughts frozen still
        —His emotion, his sentiment
expressed in a mould
        —of flesh pressed together, with varying pressure.
Set to behold, all that language cannot told.

A portrait begins in disparity & ends in unity,
culminating in a union of the artist & his subject,
their distinct Reality.