The Lovers, the lovers and Lautrec

Awhile back, on Accumulate Man, I posted an image of a Lautrac print I had never seen before. I wanted something to go along with a post, something that had two people sleeping in a bed, and came up with a nice print. Later on I came across a different study, same couple, but far more amorous than the the one that I used. I suppose that one came after the other. Sort of like zipping up your pants after putting on your trousers.

I carried that image around in my head and then, for some reason, came across this painting. I think of that couple that Lautrec studied, then see these two, studying the Lautrec, or maybe studying the lovers. I look at those two, wistful, entwined, obviously in love or some emotional variation of that, and know that somehow they are connecting, not only with the painter but with the subject matter. Do they see themselves in that painting? Or are they still fresh and new and the whole notion of being "lovers" is still in it's awkward infancy?

I see those two paintings and then think of us. I see us in those pieces the way that that couple above possibly sees themselves, or wish to see themselves. I think of that phrase you said you'd use if you were asked if we kissed ("And how!") and then think of where we didn't go. You once told me, as we stood over the trunk of your car when I was showing you that book I made for you, that, when you read that part about napping, you said "that's something we never got around to". It was like going to the movies. There was never enough time to relax, take on life like normal people. We were stealing moments and life when we could.

I look at the couple in the painting above and truly envy them. They are relaxed, taking in a museum, totally at peace with each other. I have no idea what life has in store for them, no more than the lovers in the painting. But if the three couples could agree on one thing, I am sure that that would say, like you did one time to me when you looked at that photo we shot at Kopachuck "now that's a relaxed looking couple". Maybe Lautrec had something else in mind other than relaxed, but you know what I'm getting at.

We were, you know, relaxed, comfortable, almost to the point of melting. Maybe that's one reason why that Rascal Flatts album title rang a bell with us. We melted, baby, two into one. Became one, like those lovers in the painting and in the painting beyond. We just never had someone paint our picture. Maybe we could have posed, if only we had the time.

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