Venus of Urbino
An Aubade of Obsession
Titian (Italy, 1538) by Kenneth Boyd
I saw you first in the scowl of morning
Encaging your every secret angle
Every facial feature, long wavy hair
And guilty details like furrows and turns
I hid in fear of my sullied purpose
Behind your scarlet curtain out of sight
My curious sketchpad like a voyeur
Stirring in your presence as you lay bared
Captured and contained by my gifted eyes
Not blind to your nakedness but wary
Among shadows of curtained possession
I burn in the reach of your glowing shape
Draped with sheets that shimmered like morning dew
The exhausted sheets were a tangled mess
Mistress of Urbino with unholy aches
I tasted many unspeakable words
I drank your flame igniting my murmur
Torn between artistry and ardent indulgence
You were the one who poisoned my senses
Blood calling with the chimes of a rosefinch
Venus, you’re the object of the desire
You caused in me a feverish unbalance
To stagger like a muddle-headed drunk
I was cursed with your distilled ambrosia
Speechless courtesan, temptation’s archetype
You escaped, free of the virtue of youth
As time passes and the fond light is lost
Let your eyes embrace my fallen hunger
To preserve the one red bloom you possessed
As days were stolen my eyes scoured your curves
I was guilty of coveting your form
I saw the pulse of your most secret eclipse
You exuded a paralyzing embrace
Your prowling stare was a siren’s insistence
Carnal thoughts curtained within sacred skin
Feigned modesty was an indicted demand
I begged for the permission of my soul
If not, I would surely have thought to die
I felt terror interrupting our bliss
Stirred at your bedside I begged, “Please don’t move.”
You were the undead host of my growing regret
No more life could I have formed with this brush
Your air to persist as Titian’s Venus
Like no other Venus or chambered charm
I knew, for all time beyond my canvas
www.visituffizi.org/artworks/venus-of-urbino-by-titian
Hear Kenneth Boyd recite the poem on the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast:
Kenneth Boyd is a poet and former jazz musician. His poetry has appeared in Wayfarer Magazine, the Cadence Anthology, Flora Fiction, Unlost Journal, and others. He is a winner of the 2024 Royal Palm Literary Award. His book, Grasshopper Dreams (2023) was, “a compilation of evocative and graceful poetry.” (Kirkus) Kenneth Boyd (BA, MA, ABD) is an Assistant Editor at Southland Alibi magazine and is completing the UCLA Extension Creative Writing Program.
