Dea Mea

A/N: I had to write a sonnet based on a painting, and Botticellis 'Venus and Mars' just seemd to speak to me. (See the painting here: http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=2918)

Venus is always central in Boticelli's works, and there is no doubt she is the focus of this painting. I always wondered what went through the artist's mind when deciding how to paint her, both in terms of technical planning and his emotional inspiration. There is something very sexual about Venus, yet at the same time she is somehow innocent and pure, and that juxtaposition intrigued me.

Anyway, this poem represents what Botticelli might have been thinking while deciding what to do with his model. The title means 'My goddess', and can either be applied to his mental picture of Venus which he is striving to capture on canvas, or the model who for a time becomes her.

Dea Mea

I’ll paint her as gold, bestrewn on the earth,
Copper kissed curls drenched in molten bronze sun,
Cream skin gleaming like the shell of her birth,
In delicate contrast with crimson cushion.

With immortal grace shall she recline,
Lovely limbs draped in languorous ease,
An unchaste sensation of rapture divine
Glazing the pupils of this wanton tease.

Such licentious innocence, such artless guile,
As long fingers toy with flimsy folds
Of diaphanous drapery, a promiscuous smile
Suggests the memory of sins untold.

Brush raised, I instruct the girl to undress
and become my own private seductress.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on it!