Watercolours – a fairy tale
Lights put out, the serpents snore,
Eyes wide open share a view
On the ceiling:
A soul repents and wanders.
Lightning strikes a haunted tree
Where witches dance and bats swing,
Where bitches sleep with howling wolves:
The heirs to the midnight throne.
The owls watch…
A wicked stare scares the wanton
Who kills butterflies and bees,
Spills watercolours on mama’s dreams
While painting fantasies on the childhood screen.
Time takes the wanton to his Promised Land:
There are foaming thoughts, little self-restraint;
He watches pilgrims, sick of holy clowns,
Praise the warmth of a pale evening sky.
Sells mama’s dreams for watercolours
To paint flowers in a moonlit bed,
Where windows watch with ecstasy,
No doubt his soul was cradled to fly.
He flies away to a wicked land,
Learns not to envy the ants on wings,
Dreams mama’s dreams in watercolours,
Still needs someone to wipe his eye?
He wonders:
How virtues drive and mock the wanton,
Guilt pollutes like a ruthless vice,
How time drags him through thick and thin,
And he still wishes to walk the sky?
A girl dreams:
“How they all drool for me!
One is a prince – all others my brothers, friends or perverts –
I would love to bear his child,
God forbid, I’m not that type…”
The lingerers gesture:
“One more drink; one more fling;
We’re still young, the song still sweet
God is great and merciful,
All our sins, we’ll repent and repeat.”
The pious mock:
“What do you know of the love of God!
Let us wait for the final quake;
For every vice, you’ll pay the price;
Lo! Our piety is not for heaven’s sake.”
The murderers shout:
“O believers! Don’t come this way!
You cowardly witnesses! We’ll steal your lure,
And so much harm to this earth
Would the fearful do when they fear no more.”
From blood stained hands and slaughtered faith,
He turns away, still smells the rot;
Is something cooking in the devil’s pot?
Or is it just that things are born to die?
He seeks courage to face the horrors,
To fathom his soul; to rise and watch
How preachers paint in watercolours
A place for mortals where truth runs dry.
