the Rainbow Portrait of Elizabeth I a tamed snake dotted with gems adorned your sleeve; the ruffled collar without pigment matched your ceruse-painted skin; then a celestial crown, delicate wings, a ruby pendant. but the dress was the trap: draped around you like a quilt, the hue of your hair, and alive. you had a face like a poker player & your gown befitted the mistress of spies; enough eyes & ears to survive sixty years. heart and belly of a woman contained in citrus silk; a gauzy cape below your shoulders showing ethereal credentials; heartseases on your bodice like girlhood peering out.
Imogen Wade, Non sine sole iris
The poem's title (and the painting's inscription) is Latin, translatable as 'No rainbow without the sun'
poem from here, image from here
