You walk by
viewing the brightly colored fruits
with spikes and dots and fuzz
You are small, but wide eyed
staring in awe
at the strange and the foreign
in this world you do not know
stands filled with vivid produce
orbs hanging from the ceiling in rope woven bags
a variety of creatures selling and staring
you feel out of place
a tiny girl, in a triangular red dress
freckles dotting your face like stars dot the skies
pigtails sticking out awkwardly from each side of your head
All of the beings here are beautiful and wondrous
sparkling and dancing
hair glimmering in the sunlight
You spot a purple fruit, covered in spines, on the ground
you reach your tiny hand to pick it up
but He stops you
He looks down at you,
large in stature
covered head to toe in purple fur
a grin spread across his face
almost as wide as his large belly
covered in a brown suede jacket
He picks up the fruit, shaking his head
and you know he believes you to be a thief
expecting reprimand, you shield yourself
but instead he calmly speaks
"You watch yourself, little one,
for this world is not yours
and if you eat the fruit of my world
you shall be trapped.
It may seem to be beautiful,
but even the most enticing things
can be rotten to the core"
He cracks the purple fruit open
with his clawed hand
and out scurry large black beetles
falling onto the ground
more beetles than the fruit should hold
but they keep coming,
crawling up your skin, covering every inch of you
until you can barely see
He snaps his fingers
and the beetles turn to black smoke
and fade away
You notice,
that a midst your terror
this beautiful world has kept turning
dancing, shining, selling, singing, eating
He gives you a wink
and hands you a yellow fruit
"I can teach you the ways of my world, child
And we shall be set free by the brush in our hand
and the brain in our heads.
Eat, child, eat and stay with me
We will fight this gorgeous madness together."
You don't know why
but you trust this beautiful monster
with his skilled words, and big belly
You take a bite of the yellow fruit
juice drips off your chin
pooling on the floor
The man smiles
and you smile back
He lifts you onto a chair
Hands you a brush
and you paint
You don't realize it, but as you paint with the man
You are turning into one of these fair people
Your pigtails flowing into long red locks
legs lengthening, arms growing
your round face turns to a heart,
and your freckles fade from brown to gold
But your wide eyes stay,
forever curious
Little do you notice, that the man has changed as well
You paint
the people in front of you
the fruits
the beetles
Each thing you paint,
fades away into nothing
now you paint a brown suede jacket
and there is almost nothing left
only you, a purple cat, an empty fruit stand,
and hundreds of paintings
the sun is gone, the world bathed in grey
the dancers are gone, the lovely fruits gone,
the people gone, the magic gone
The purple cat jumps across the empty stand
"My child, you have ended this world
because I brought you here,
and because I belonged to this world
You now must end me"
You nod, and dip a brush in your paint
and paint the beautiful cat, until he fades away.
Overcome with grief, you cry
tears spilling down your face
flowing like a river from your large eyes
the sea of tears washes over your paintings
smears the paint, and whisks it away
bringing all of them back to life
The sun, the people, the dancers, the magic
but you cry still
where is your purple cat?
Your furry monster man?
You lay your head on his painting and cry
you cry and cry
body stiffening, and turning to stone
water still flowing from your eyes
down your painting of a purple cat
and into the pool around your feet
But the beautiful world takes no heed
it will keep dancing, and singing
selling, and enticing
until another little girl comes one day
to end it all.
But you will still be stone
until she paints you away.