Sunday, April 7, 2013

artist's statement (fire and water)

 
 
You love someone else.
Perhaps I do,
 
too.
 
But maybe this is
still a good thing
to celebrate?
 
Like fire and water,
 
there is something
more ancient, more primal
 
than merely the heart.
 
I felt it the very first time we met,
and we weaved & moved
around each other,
 
and when the drumming finally finished
you gently touched my hair.
 
You started a small fire that night.
 
I am not the same man I was then.
And you are not the same woman.
We have changed,
yet we remain
 
the same.
 
What was it your chart said?
A year of change...
 
Fire and water,
water and fire.
 
I have shed my skin again,
but I have learnt many things
in the last year.
 
Your smile is still
one of the most beautiful things
I have ever seen,
 
but I would love to see your tears, too.
 
I lay claim to being many things,
but never, ever a saint /
 
I do most of my painting (these days)
with words, not paint.
 
Things, last year,
they got a little messy,
didn't quite go as planned /
 
But I'm hoping
if you saw the bigger picture,
 
you might begin to understand.
 
This is a heady mix
of lust & longing on my palette,
desire
on a sable brush /
 
If I were to tell you
what I long to do tonight,
your canvas
would surely shiver,
 
ignite in fire & blush!
 
We could talk (my dear)
of love
in pastel shades,
and yet! /
 
Tonight, of nights
alone with you,
I long to paint you
 
scarlet!!
 
Fire and water,
water and fire...
 
The sun, it may yet rise
in those eyes,
but let me be /
 
The swollen,
pale, fullest of moon
that sinks into your sea...
 
These are not words,
they are my artist's statement /
 
They are written on your skin
in starlight & honey,
 
so profane,
yet so sacred.
 
You reached over,
& touched my hair again today.
 
It was all so brief.
 
I wished for it
 to stay there just a little longer.
 
Water and fire, fire and water.
 
It has been
some time
since
someone
 
has set
 this watersign on fire.
 
 
 
(c) Brent M Harpur, 2013.
 
"There are some days that I feel I may die from an overdose of satisfaction." (Salvador Dali)
 


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