speaking of michelangelo

what women
were speaking of Michelangelo?
where did they go,
coming in and
out of the room.
what was in their hands.
were they
allowed to stop
and eat.
to rest.
did they know how they would
become
fixtures in
a famous poem,
were they dressed for the night,
or ready for
sleep, or better yet,
parading by
in less and less, tempting
the poet
to end
the writing and to go
upstairs
for the night.