When the Artist Surrenders

Find an artist.  
Let him fall in love with you—  
slowly, helplessly—  
until your presence lingers on his fingertips,  
a ghost of warmth long after you’ve gone.  

Become the secret he paints into forever,  
the soul he surrenders to  
before the canvas dares to breathe.  
One shared glance,  
and the colors begin to tremble.  

You are not his model,  
nor his lover.  
You are the hush behind his silence,  
the flicker stitched into his dreams,  
the heartbeat caught in every line.  

And then—  
you are no longer yourself.  
You are the hunger behind each stroke,  
the shape memory clings to,  
the breath that endures  
long after 
he is gone.