[This was part of an assignment for A-Level English Language and Literature as a poetic representation of this painting of Lord Chatterton. Props to my English teacher for the inspiration.]
The heartbroken adolescent, bordering on adult;
Flame-hued curls of a boy, sparse stubble of a man.
One arm trails from the bed like an unfinished sentence,
Unpunctuated and discarded.
Tattered pieces of his broken heart, torn to shreds on the carpet,
On unlined paper, the ink still fresh,
Like a bullet wound to the shoulder- not quite fatal.
He considered, in his final farewell, his once-happy self,
A youthful romance of gaiety and light-headedness,
Her sly smile and storm-cloud eyes flecked with ivy-
The letter penned in her hand.
