by Gabriele Beaini.
A cricket chirping, dozing away. The big green
Sways in the breeze, insignificant below
The void of the night. Vast and empty it seems,
Nothing but a tunnel speckled with stars. Then
The stars shifted, and smeared into streaks
From the stroke of a hand, and the night melted
Into a canvas, for visions.
No mountain of earth had ever loomed so mighty,
Nor had a stream raged such a brooding mass.
And vivid it is, while horizontals of ink suck
To the current, feeding the treacherous body. A large
Belly, bloated and swelling, a blissful nonchalance.
But you see me here, feel this radiance linger in
A neverland? No, not now, not tonight. Yet other
Times, when the light returned, and flipped again,
And my heart left my body, had me floating in a
Million diamonds (if you hadn’t brought me back).
A breeze would form, and trail up north into this
Isolated world, carved from a patch of grass.
You’ve lost me now: two dots that can’t connect,
As there’s nothing left but shafts of sunlight that strike
The four quilted corners of my mind.
My head could turn, catch sight, make pictures
Clear through these eyes.
Then a crack appeared, and the grid was sinking,
Too slow to see. Fall back little Matryoshka,
Break out!
And here I found more for you, for
Better or worse. Where no corners lie, and
Beyond, curvatures twist to infinite ends. Yet you
Couldn’t find what you were looking for, as
Only now I scramble to seek the lost answer.
But all I see makes two of us.
Such a fool I could be, as I chase this light at the
End of the tunnel. You needn’t worry now, as I
Follow this beacon! So glorious it seems; so
Guiding it beams!
But blinding was never said less, as I shrink
Away, halt in my tracks. A lie to be; a fallacy
To see, clear as day. Only the darkness could
Catch me now, and fill the space. But never
Could it hold me. So I chose neither.
I chose grey. Visions.