Octavia - a Haunting

What’s left of Octavia glides down the hall Past the portraits she painted in life, Now framed in mahogany, rosewood, and oak, And they’re hers for the haunting tonight. She looks for the canvas she started the day Her desire became indiscrete; A nude on a balcony under the moon. It was one she would never complete. What’s left of Octavia passes the wall Where her art is the featured display, Recalling advances she made in the past That went far beyond being risqué. She goes to the window and conjures the scene As it happened those long years before, And thinks of the model who posed for her then; A temptation too ripe to ignore. What’s left of Octavia mourns what she’s lost Like a dreamer deprived of her dream. Her husband threw open the studio door To discover her subject and theme. He looked at the model, he looked at his wife, And he saw what a fool he had been To blindly indulge her artistic pursuits, Which she took as occasion to sin. A new moon at midnight. She whispers a name. Her face in the shadows, a study in pain. Still searching for what she can never regain, And she’s out on a haunting tonight. What’s left of Octavia longs for the time She felt anything other than numb. The smell of the paint and the feel of the brush Being foreign to what she’s become. A specter deprived of the flavor of life. An obsession that won’t fade away. A monochrome canvas, a faintly drawn sketch From a palette with ten shades of gray. What’s left of Octavia stands on the ledge, And considers the landscape below. The moment of impact still fresh in her mind, Because time has not softened the blow. Her family gathered to lay her to rest, And the ring was removed from her hand. Though people would gossip, and ponder her fate, There are none who in truth understand. What’s left of Octavia comes to him now, Late at night when he puts on her ring. A family heirloom entrusted to him When he married his lover last spring. He stands in the dark as she enters the room, And the séance is set to begin. She watches him pose, while he takes off his clothes, With her brushstrokes caressing his skin. Confessions at midnight. She whispers a name. Her face in the shadows, a study in pain. Still searching for what she can never regain, But he's hers for the haunting tonight.