This week’s #TankaTuesday challenge is Ekphrastic, featuring the image below:
1860
painting by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (Museum: Bavarian State Painting Collections) wikidata.org
At first glance, it looks as if the young woman is holding a cell phone. But of course, that can’t be because the painting was completed in 1860. I’m sure the young woman is holding a prayer book, so there’s really no mystery in the painting. But it’s fun to speculate!
I’ve created a Double Ennead, a 99 syllable form comprising three stanzas of syllables (6, 5, 11, 6, 5). The three stanzas help to tell a story. Punctuation, end-rhymes, are all up to the poet.
The Lovers
He loves me—my prayer, hazy daydream songs recited on a pathway to nirvana if only it were so... my heart, he holds dear She loves me—my request without her I'm dust, I wait to declare my love for her beauty pink roses match her cheeks dainty honey lips A prayer to the gods for sweet summer love, clandestine moments shared between chaste lovers, their arms entwined, hearts joined... two stars in the sky © Colleen M. Chesebro
🪻 Colleen Chesebro, Author & Poet 🪻 
Thanks for your comments ❣️