“No up front costs”

From a bed she looks up,
Wrapped in shades of white,
Thousand count sheets, Egyptian cotton, Delta cotton,
And pillows so soft that she sinks and forgets herself,
Covered with petals, tiny rose pink petals.

Her eyes adjust
A world of brightness
The lights block out the people
Just a fortification of radiance
A wall between her naked form and the camera lens.

There is a cello rising, sinking, a sound out of the light,
And a voice pierces through
Telling her to look this way, and keep her chin up,
Back arched, leg lifted, and hold it, stay, trained and focused,
On that empty space, the camera flash, and the voice beyond the radiance.

Then the voice stops,
Then the lights…one by one, go out,
And in the dimness, she sees her naked form, encircled,
Wrapped in shades of grey, buried in the pillows, obscured in the darkness,
Surrounded…by the wilted rose pink petals,

And the growing stain of scarlet.