Imagine my surprise when my eyes spied
you staring from over the garden wall.
Blinking so gently, your doll at your side,
your freckles glowing, I counted them all.
A minute held forever in my mind.
The first and last moment had of this kind.

You ran away, a shadow of a ghost.
I sat and pondered. Were you in my head?
I glanced back and forth, from pillar to post,
but you turned to ash, the moment was dead.
So I turned and slumped, tired and annoyed.
Years later your eyes still pierce into my void.

I am the man behind a marble mask.
You are a muse, you are my final task.