Winter Island

"Can I paint you?" late one night
Three afternoons in fading light
Never met a purer heart
One so entirely formed on art
Your world is under an attack
So you are bringing fresco back
Slowly brush progressed to touch
And fingers traced along every shape

The painter from Thessaloniki
Cut the eyes from the mask of me
For both a muse we're finding
On the winter island
Shadowed face and rolling vowel
The bar contained a whispered vow
What will we do today?
I know a place the Romans lay
Tongue in cheek and heart in hand
Try not to mock the earnest man
Walk a winding forest road
There's something in the air I'm told

The painter from Thessaloniki
Cut the eyes from the mask of me
For both a muse we're finding
On the winter island
The walls were painted just as white
As clouds above that Grecian isle
You said I was Lady Ulysses
And twisted grass around our fingers
We rang the bell but didn't tell
Of the wedding in the church that day
The next day I would sail away

The painter from Thessaloniki
Cut the eyes from the mask of me
For both a muse we're finding
On the winter island