Zeuxis painted grapes so real
that birds came down
to peck, but Parrhasius painted
a curtain that Zeuxis asked him to
pull back.
                         What is a curtain
but a promise that something lies
behind it, nothing
but definition, burgundy
velvet, draped. But why a little curtain
of flesh on the bed of our
desire
? Blake never tired of
asking, though Pliny had already
decreed that the best
painting of all would be
a painting of a curtain
since paintings should disclose
even what they hide
.