THE MADONNA WITH A POMEGRANATE

There are nights when she badly needs some coffee,
A little fresh air, some personal space, so Botticelli's Madonna
Lets the child have the pomegranate and hands him off
To one of the angels crowding round her. Lifting her hem
To keep her feet from tangling in it, she climbs
Down from the painting. On her way through the Uffizi
She stops to chat with Venus, her older sister,
Asking her to check on Jesus should he start crying.
They know her at the  small bottega across the street;
She drinks her coffee, and smokes two cigarettes
Beneath the stars. Before returning to her painting
She stands in front of it for a moment, wishing
It wasn't quite so crowded and that two of the angels
Weren't resting their books on her.

UNDELIVERED

AT THE UFFIZI

Through the doorway, Titian's Venus
Gestured urgently to me, but I shrugged;
The tour was rushing on; Raphael
Was waiting. When I returned home
The picture postcard which hangs
On a pillar next to my desk was bitter.
"How could you not linger? What if
She’s kept a message for you
For the last five hundred years?"
"But," I asked, "can't you deliver it?"
"Me? I am a reproduction. I am slightly
Out of focus; my colors are inaccurate.
You should not trust anything I say."