self portrait

you set up
your easel in
the light,
near a window.
brushes.
paints, canvas
blank and white
as a snow
filled field
in February.
you put the mirror
in place.
so that you
can see
yourself as
others see you.
not the image
of you that
lives in your
mind's eye.
just you, settled
on your stool.
preparing to do
the impossible,
a self portrait.
blemishes
and all.
the lines of
joy, the furrows
of doubt.
the hope
still in your
eyes.