To paint my stillness I have tried
The palette is empty, the paint has dried

Come over with your artist’s brush
Paint my stillness with the black rose’s blush

Paint the light flowing from above
Paint my soul, paint me ungloved

Paint the shadows and the darkness
Chisel me in with all your sharpness

Paint me in the mirror haunted
By all life’s ghosts paint me undaunted

Paint me original I won’t be shocked
Already you have the Art world rocked

Paint me boldly as I am
Let the paint spill from your dam.

…

Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca has been a teacher of English, French and Spanish for over four decades in colleges in India, and private schools overseas. She is a widely published poet, with poems featured in various journals and anthologies, including the Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English, The Journal of Indian Poetry in English by Sahitya Akademi, SETU magazine, Harbinger Asylum and Verse-Virtual. Her debut collection ‘Family Sunday and other Poems’ was published in 1989. Her chapbook ‘Light of the Sabbath’ was recently published in September 2021. Kavita is the daughter of the late poet Nissim Ezekiel.