Mirror Images. (Revised).

The portrait of Lucrezia Borgia
Is you to a tee -
The same thoughtful eyes -
The same exposed breast -
The same haughty profile
Disguising a profound unease -
A distrust of the venal wisdom -
The empty pursuit of power
At the core of a treacherous world.
All that the young aristocrat wanted
Was safety - love - a good life -
Raising her musician daughter
Among artists - poets - saints -
Not the attentions of an incestuous father -
Or a brother who butchered her friends.

Your family certainly lacks the glamour
Of those tarnished Vatican angels -
And poverty - not Papal wealth -
Was the hallmark of your upbringing -
A beleaguered gypsy woman
With a sad alcoholic mother -
And a father who could never be traced.
But when you stood - ill at ease - by my bedside -
Transfigured by love and by longing -
I noticed - how strangely alike
You are to the young Lucrezia -
Only your hair is a little darker -
And your eyes are black - not hazel.
But just like you - she was quietly vulnerable -
Her bravado was simply for show.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
June 14th. - July 3rd. - 8th. 2018.
Lucrezia Borgia is one of the most maligned figures in history. The rumours about her simply do not fit the verifiable facts. Like all aristocratic women of her time she was a pawn in the hands of the men in her family, some one to marry off for political or financial reasons. The historical Lucrezia loved the arts, and her daughter became a nun and a notable composer. Lucrezia died in childbirth at the age of 39.