I remember being little
invincible
as though youth were sword and shield
a hedge against evil
and what shattered innocence
like china against concrete
for me didn't take my life
it was like a slow gain in acuity
vision going from Matisse to Vermeer
details of loveliness gaining on me
but I could also see into shadows
and i began to run from darkness
instead of sleeping
still
under the velvet black
of night
they will be so, i think,
when they go back to school
i wonder what their parents see in their eyes today
shattered china
or is it re-firing to survive
turning into jade
jaded pupils
opalescent
against the harshness
of new reality
and was this Eve?
when the juice ran down her throat
and Adam standing there watching her change
mother and father of our whole race
did their world fracture
like Picasso's
into a senseless collection of shapes
when innocence was lost
and knowledge gained
at such a price?
Paintings courtesy of wikipedia.com
Claude Monet's Woman with a Parasol (1875)
Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665)
Picasso's Three Dancers (1925)
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