Girl with a Pearl Earring

No one knows my name
and yet I’m as famous as Van de Meer
who painted me.
Ever on the lips of others,
mysterious, un-judged, beyond desire,
I’m more beautiful than a thousand seas.
I want to live for a thousand years
like a singing bird out of time
sitting on a frozen metal line.
If I could freeze the world into a moment
it would be you and I walking along the canal  
on the other side of winter light;
or, standing at the open window
waiting for you to tell me which way and how to look.
I can’t imagine love without you painting me into it.  
Remember me
apothecary of bone black, lapis and ocher.