Erecting her easel
at the foot of the boardwalk
she mixes the paint
a hell-fire pink and crimson
and dips her brush to begin…

She paints
the end of all things
a voice lost to the fractured mind
the final moments of a life
a hand slipping away

She paints
farewell hospital conversations
her father’s beard as a cloud
she thins the blue paint with her tears
She colours in his eyes
Lost to the mystery of time

She paints the setting sun
yawning over the harbour mouth
the boats skipping in and out
As the light begins to wither
she collapses the easel
and throws her canvas into the ocean

Lost to the mystery of time…
 

[2023]