Red
(For two voices)
First Voice:
The tulips red
Not yet opened glance
At me
Noticing my eyes.
Peonies
White with yellow centres
Delicate
Like her elegant wrist in ruffles--
They turn away
And favour the room
Over me.
The world is not yet safe
It hovers
Tired animal
Unsure
If I would make
A worthy prey
Destined
To dread
Colour
Yellow was my fate yesterday
I saw it biting
Everywhere.
Voice Two:
Now I try to hide in red
Why is it a sinking
Thing?
It seems to shift like clay
But its redness
Growls and
Growls.
Speak!
The tulips say
Why have I chosen the
Insistence of red?
It’s everywhere like
Cherry orchards.
I should lose myself here instead
In the turquoise folds
Of these velvet curtains that drape
And fold the empty stage.
I long to disappear
Into the soft darkness of their pleats.
Coda:
Red knows how to laugh
Knows its origins
Are in wildflowers
Indian paintbrush
Painted on faces first
Or else on jars
Red knows mystery
Knows the place where the sacred lies
It is the color of the color
Of our liquid life.
Red knows itself
Through and through
It is the color of desire—
Red knows itself
On the blackbird’s wing—
In the flaming Autumn leaves.
Red knows and knows
Itself
As Love.
ReplyDeleteIlluminated from the side by a projector,
who imitates the sun,
pointing his arrows
between the hollow of the mountain,
I see you, alone on the stage.
I should rather get lost here
in the purple folds
of these velvet curtains
who drape the empty wall,
Garden side.
I want to disappear
in the soft darkness of their folds.
Indian summer
continuing his liquid life
with its purpurine color.
There is still this bouquet
of the red flowers
on the stage.
Such intense red,
let him cry out the hue of desire.
The rest of the decor
is like a jewel case,
whose shadows cannot be seen.
I risk a step
and it's your hand that I hold.