Perhaps there are Red Skies

An Original Poem by Anastasia E. Harper Dedicated to friend from high school.

The artist does not see the same world I see, 

but what is it she perceives that I cannot?

What does she see in its simplicity?

Perhaps it is a world

where rivers flow backward to their source,

where mountains are gaping fissures in the ground,

where valleys do not exist.

Perhaps the sky is red there,

red as blood, the heart and passionate love. 

Maybe there is a king there 

who is irrational and insane,

who rules with demented tyranny.

Why else would she be here at the river's edge 

and not there?

She sees the sickening madness in his eyes,

silver as deceit, delusion and ruin. 

I want her to cross the river 

and be at my side,

but remains there, 

standing in the murky water. Why?

Is it because we are each swen

from different cloths?

She belongs to a nation

where rivers flow backward to their source,

where mountains are gaping fissures in the ground,

where valleys do not exist.

Here, on Earth, the skies are blue.

Perhaps there are red skies there

but I am blind to their nation

and I cannot perceive what she sees. 

I want to cross the river but I cannot

because we are each sewn from different cloths.

This will never stop us 

from meeting each other in the middle of the river

with murky water splashing around our feet.

Only there will she show me what she sees.