The Painting Hopper Didn't Do

The Painting Hopper Didn't Do
---- Big Frank Dickinson

His women typically face you
In private moments of introspection:
The woman inside the theater
Intently mulling something over

While the movie plays to the side;
The woman sitting on the bed
While outside the window the car waits
To take her away to god knows where;

The woman in the automat silently sipping
Her coffee while her thoughts jangle away;
The woman executive interrupted on the job
By her lover's letter which stops her work.

However, here she stands looking away;
Out the window; while her lover still reclines
Behind her in bed. He's not in the frame;
She is opening the blinds on a new day.

You see her back from his view in bed
Where he lies in the wrinkled shadows
Wishing she were still there with him
Embracing as before in the dark.

Last night is missing, in this painting
as is tomorrow. But not from her lover's frame.
She, silhouetted by dawn's shutters,
Quickly chases away last night's play.

Boxed in by useless columns of curtains
To the left and right, and facing her
The open shade lets the scraps of darkness
Slips sadly out between the cracks of light.

This blanketing brightness is as welcomed
By her as it is regretted by her lover
Who still lies in shimmering darkness
Bracing against the dismissive light of day.