She no longer poses but is just herself,
this woman, who is an artist's model.
Undressing for a living, she's stripped
daily of much more than her clothes.
Now there she sits totally defenceless,
not even comfortable in the straight backed chair,
but twisted, drooping, cold, and naked--
her sagging breasts, thin and sad,
and her subdued sex, timidly peeping
from between her thighs,
like a small, quiet mouse.
Her fleshy lips and empty eyes tell one story;
the artist's brush, paints and easel, tell another.