The Artist

The Artist created a picture of a young man walking down a road
Hills and sweeping valleys surrounded him
The sky radiated countless jewels across a sparkling lake
Seagulls hung gently like kites and daffodils turned fields into gold
Black faced sheep grazed snowy hills and conifers rose like attentive choir boys

The Artist saw the man holding a tree blossom to his nose
He smiled and painted in a cottage
Soon the chimney smoked and the man was seen working in the garden
He saw the man was lonely so painted a wife with sunset hair and a smile of Felicity
Windows sparkled in the lover’s cottage as its white painted face peered shyly over the hedgerows

Colours changed, blossom turned to fruit and summer passed into autumn
As winter white took grip, the Artist saw a bump nestled in the woman’s heavy coats
In spring a pram stood beneath the wings of white washing
The child grew and played, making chains of daisies and dancing amongst dandelions
They laughed as fire flies beckoned to swim at dusk in treacle calm water, with stars tangling their hair

The child became a woman and stood at the garden gate, holding a small suitcase
Seasons changed and years passed, but the girl did not return
The woman grieved and her lamenting turned to illness and death
The man no longer admired the beautiful view or smelled the blossom trees
The Artist painted fabulous birds with wings glinting in sunlight, but the man didn’t seem them

The man grew wizened and hopelessness dulled his eyes
The garden became unkempt and the cottage windows were grey and unlit
The Artist painted silver edges to festoons of cloud, but the man didn’t notice
Colours faded into sepia and naked trees poked like brittle brooms across the landscape
A big tear dropped on the page and became a great river crashing down into the lake as a torrent

The painting overflowed with emptiness
The Artist drew Himself in the picture and greeted the man who was hunched in a garden chair
He sat with him and pointed to geese landing on the lake, their feet skimming the water
The sunset grinned through the clouds and brightened the old man’s face
Together they watched the sky darken to twilight, awakening the starlit heavens

As the stars took their celestial positions, the Artist lay down on the grass and died
He lay so peacefully, the man thought he must be sleeping
The man watched deep into the night as dust shot across the sky like blazing arrows and constellations stirred
Daybreak struck its message across the sky and a sparkling new light enlivened all the tree tips
Light fanned through a crack in the clouds, its fingers stroking everything it touched

The Artist’s body decomposed into clusters of flowers that glowed brighter than any star in the heavens
The man watched as flowers shrivelled into seeds and a gust of wind blew up and scattered them throughout the garden until they were invisible
When spring returned the man saw his garden blooming as never before … and he smiled

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