Inspired byLes Amants(The Lovers) (1928) by Belgian artist Rene Magritte (1898-1967)
Two people, trying to kiss,
Their heads shrouded in cloth, like hijabs, but with no opening for the face--
You can't even see their faces;
They can't see each other's faces.
They can't kiss except through the cloth,
There's no opening for the cloth for them to see or breathe.
Having concealed themselves from each other and from the world,
They have concealed the world from themselves--
They have made themselves blind and liable to suffocate.
To see, to discover, to love properly, to breathe freely--
They must take off the masks that shroud them.
© 2025 by Mark Andrew Holmes.