Ekphrasis 3

My eyes immediately darted to the harsh indents of Pluto's large fingers in the side of Proserpina.  I was amazed at how soft and full the skin appeared.  I followed the hands down the hanging legs, the right foot pointed downwards, the left knee pointed upward.  With a second glance, I noticed a figure behind the left foot, a goat, leaning toward the sky, mouth wide, horns curled at its sides.  From the goat I began to trace up the muscular body, starting at his toes to the massive calves, thick veins popping out from under the glossy skin.  A silky drape hung directly over his genitalia, allowing the site to a set of thick thighs.  The V-shaped abdomen moved my eyes up the toned torso of the figure, his hips protruding from his center.  Up the ribs to his hulk-like arms, back to his hands, and eventually across a small gap to her curved stomach.  From the stomach to left her arm, a bent elbow leads my eyes to her flared fingertips.  Despair and anger rest in his eyes, as her hand pushes him away.  A simple crown rests above locks of wild curls, going in every direction.  His slightly open mouth rests above a sea of hair, the entire circumference of his head, covered in hair.  Back up her bent arm, the eyes travel to her head, desperation lays clearly on her face.  A cry for help escapes her mouth, as her eyes pierce through the ceiling.  Tight curls fly behind her tilted head, adjacent with the back of her left shoulder.  Her right forearm pointed toward the sky, her bony fingers slightly separated, air traveling between them.  With one more glance, you realize how much her body language makes you empathize with the motionless stone.             

(The Rape of Proserpina, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1662, Galleria Borghese, Rome, June 5, 2019)