From Beyond a Dream

The ballet dancers swim outside my doors,

And pluck at scarlet fruits behind my eyes;

They pirouette in seven’s, eight’s and nine’s

Then drown in reddened lakes in twenty-four’s.

Their sodden tutu’s, drink them up through straws

And on their bloated bodies, here, do dine -

They make the most delicious cherry wine

So do not think their death was without cause!

Then from their shelled remains, I build a raft,

To sail it down the river painted red -

It scrapes along the purple riverbed

And stirs the lilac dust into its craft.

This ship is built of irony in draught

And nailed together with sugar and lead,

So watch it sink through sadness as I bled

And hear it floating proudly as I laughed!

But then, my laughing stops as she begins -

An ageing harridan sets fires new,

She scores a late sonata before noon

And plays it on her flaming violins.

The screeching of her opus riles the skin,

Igniting all the earth with burning tunes

She lets the world revolve around her moons,

Then desecrates the universe within!

Copyright © 2012 by Simon Austin