MASTERPIECE #3163

/// She’s a painter whose work has been shown,
yet she’s raising her son all alone.
Now she turns to the lad,
“Mon fils, this is your Dad.
He prefers that his name not be known.”

/// “You’ve been asking for him your whole life,
and my silence on this has caused strife.
But you’re now of an age
to refocus your rage.
He’s got nine kids and won’t leave his wife.”

/// Mother said, “I don’t want you to miss
any chances for marital bliss.
If a girl you would kiss
whose papa looks like this,
stay away— for she may be your Sis.”

/// The boy now knew he’d never embrace
this man with a familiar face.
“If the world learned that he,
with Mamon, begat me
he would face ruin, woe and disgrace.”

/// Even as a young girl she was arty
and her crowd liked to drink and to party.
When she said “I’m with child”
she was roundly reviled.
Her love’s father proclaimed she was “tarty.”

/// It was natural she’d be rejected
by a man that all Paris respected.
They agreed on a deal
she swore not to reveal.
For some cash his “good name” was protected.

/// “I’m a mother with no wedding ring;
we need what his père’s money will bring.
My Art, (though it’s my passion),
doesn’t bring too much cash in,
because paint on black velvet’s my ‘thing’.”