SELF-PORTRAIT BY REMBRANDT

I look into the portrait and it begins

to live – before my eyes the gaze with which

he looks at me now slowly changes

it briefly smiles – as if making excuses

for being there and for the questions

it evokes in me

it then grows somewhat pensive – with a hint

of indulgence, of doubt

of gentle mockery

perhaps though it is disappointment too

the melancholy of a man who looks into himself

and sees how much is past

was this what Rembrandt saw when

looking in the mirror where

he sought himself?

johnirons