Thursday 12 April 2018

Rembrandt by Two Brushstrokes

This poem was jointly written from two spatial locations in 2010. My friend SYR and I were having a Skype call and we co-wrote this with each of us contributing the alternative line. One could think of 'authorship' and 'authorial intent' in this textual form as well as the ambiguity of origins. However, perhaps what holds this piece together is its internal coherence or as some may say the lack of it!



I see Rembrandt in his dark corner, playing spray with his colours
The colours on the floor spelled purple and blue,
One was for me and the other for you
I pick up the purple and out of it grew a great form, a beast from nowhere
The dark and the evil how to the light compare
Larger and larger grew the beast, spewing blood red passion and yellow streaks
Smaller grew the universe yet people danced happily, even as the other world grew closer
Across the blue canopy, people gazed at the marvellous blend of colours
How all of us now merge with all of them, there is no war, but so much valour
Blue and purple of the yonder world, now mingling freely within our love torn worlds
In the meeting of the ages, in the joining of the forms
Colours flowing freely, the dark becomes light
The dragon seems further even as love grows stronger
The knowledge that was revealed, in that moment so unfamiliar
That darkness and light can be close and so clear
There is no struggle like in our old world that was so dear
The paradoxes concoct to form a new hemisphere
Dawn and dusk, the in-between times
In the new world, the ones which hold our lives
But only to guide you when you were losing sight
Where light loses its colour and darkness gains might
Desire and pain holding hands, a harsh smile sweeter than a bitter pill
Always there, never besides, always within


Saab, Mumford, 01 August, 2010

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