I saw luminous turquoise lanterns floating through the soft air,
Into a vast array of fluffy white clouds above,
As peaceful to behold as lily pads on a serene mill pond –
I saw a sea of sullen squawking ravens,
Perched upon forgotten squalid tombstones,
Plunged in nature’s stormy wrath –
I saw silhouettes playfully pirouetting upon the parkland,
Where fluttering leaves of grass and cherry blossom,
Decorate the pastured earth with whimsical vibrance –
I saw surly men in tattered trench coats,
A litany of leering lecherous lunatics,
And evangelical preachers screaming sermons of doom,
In the bleak winter dawn –
I saw a luscious flowerbed of ruby-red rose petals,
Bathed in a billion beams of beautiful starlight,
And banquet tables brimming with exotic coffee liqueur –
I saw abandoned military hospitals mired in eternal gloom,
Meteorites and missiles violently hurtling through the stratosphere,
And sharp jolts of stinging electricity cracking upon tender skulls,
Like the scalding laceration of a leather whip –
I saw a shimmering crystal vase overflowing with honey glazed apricots,
Spectacular multicoloured stained glass windows,
The seductive scent of aromatic tangerine flavoured cocktails,
And a precious antique harpsichord covered in crimson coloured candles –
I saw the grim reaper’s scythe sweeping through barbaric ghettos,
Like a tidal wave of disaster and death,
And all the endless sorrow of the stale and stagnated streets of suburbia,
Slowly seeping into the sad souls of strange and sensitive children –
I saw a bucolic windmill and colourful country farmhouses,
A rustic wooden barn filled with freshly fragrant haystacks of golden hue,
And wild chestnut horses galloping splendidly across fertile fields –
Poem by Stamos Mardou