Day 353. Those Slavic Cheekbones Gave A Backwards Glance (SOLD)

And in one brief moment and a backwards glance, those beautiful, Slavic cheekbones walked out of his life.  Desmond had never met a woman like Galina before--her temper, emotions, moods as deeply vermillion as her stylish coat and matching hat.  He just couldn't live up to the conflicted passion she constantly required.  She was Anna Karenina, and he, a mere peasant.  He knew it was a doomed love affair, but he couldn't stop himself from being pulled into her exotic intoxication.

She had cared for him, her eyes said, just a little bit.  Her expression had a touch of wistfulness, and somewhere through the air he heard Vysotsky's anguished singing of "Horses."  The singer's pained shouts were a perfect pairing to Desmond's inability to stop the unfolding of the inevitable.  In all reality, there was a beauty in the doomed affair.  He would savor his pain and write an award-winning poem of it later.  He silently began it with that last look: 

Goodbye, razor-sharp cheekbones;

your cut left me breathlessly bleeding!

 

From the movie "White Nights" - Mikhail Baryshnikov dances to Vysotsky's, "Horses." (That's the fabulous Helen Mirren there as well, sobbing at Misha's dancing brilliance.)

P.S. I was a Russian major back when this film first came out and I went and saw it EIGHT times.  I was so in love with the Russian language and Baryshnikov!