This is a draft for the poem which has been spawned and then influenced my planned painting of Lucretia. The painting draws from Titians portrayal of Tarquin and Lucretia. With Tarquin removed I am interested in the horror of her grasping at nothingness. I like the notion, as with Adonis, that this is the later moment, after the rape and suicide. The story of Lucretia rather than the narrative threads which her death caused (Oath of Brutus and downfall of Roman monarchy.)_ Her story is her being trapped , in afterlife, with the horrific memories. The painting has only been designed in photoshop so far and the poem is a very loose draft.

Lucretia

The juggler dropped his balls
Pantomine turned to theatre
A gust of will pulled the curtains back
Whilst the voyeur and the slave awaited the feast
The drum beat began

Lust gnawed away at logic and devoured humanity
Dragging Tarquin to a fit of rage
He made Lucretia his fleshy delight
Robbing her of dignity to present us the spectacle
Purple pants, splattered fit of ravages
Rapped, an emptied vessel

Lucretia’s blade of dignity was supposed to free her
From it a series of events were spawned
The drummer boys continuous rhythm played on
Whilst her heart had be brought to a close
The oath of Brutus,
The fall of Tarquin and the rise of the Roman republic
All unfolded from the moment of horror
Reaction but no hiatus
Responded to but forgotten
The rancid moment washed into the past

For Lucretia the pain continued
Cupid had paused his flute
His skin peeled and flayed by lust
A Crow burst out of his pale skinned gut
Suicide offering Lucretia not freedom but limbo
Like one of the four sinners but sinless
Cast into eternal punishment for a crime committed against her
Forever made to remember
To grab at the empty air
The horror of nothingness running through her hand
The Signifier of past something-ness
The emptiness of the repetitive rape
Whilst all else moved around her
Lucretia was held in the flux of this moment
Left Dancing to the tragic and cyclical rhythm of sorrow