Her Childlike face a painted mask
Her private thoughts will never show
Beneath her breast her heart beats fast
But no one save for I would know

Eternally her pose is cast
To capture my deceitful eye
Bold, I feign to saunter past
In hope today she'll not be shy

But there she waits with tilted head
Reposed in vibrant amber dress
Absorbed with literary pleasures read
Up there, resplendent, to impress

How oft I yearn acknowledgement
to see vivacious eyes meet mine
To know she turned her pretty head
just once to peep from framed confine

But never will she seek my face
Nor lift her eyes to greet my stare
Her book has always pride of place
Of my world she's quite unaware

And so like this our love remains
Her role, to sit in windowed state
Whilst I pass by in harsh refrain
The rift in time thus seals my fate.