Picasso had a nightmare where 
he's painting by a stream
a self portrait of himself.

He refers to the water
where his image of himself
warps and ripples in the flow
and he struggles to catch up
to paint what he sees.

It seems impossible indeed
for no sooner what he paints
has changed in the river
in the moment.

Still he struggles to keep up
painting his reflection
as quickly as he can
like a madman lost in a storm.

But in his grasping for some image 
that doesn't change
he forgets what he looks like
and who he is and he paints his pain
and confusion for all the world to admire

...and desire.

Picasso's nightmare 
rages on canvas like fire.

The forms persistently shift
like clouds in the wind
and he tosses his brushes and paints
and moves up close to the stream
nose almost touching the water
he eyes his reflection.

He screams to the shadow,
"Who are you?
And what do you want?"

The lips of his image move
like waves of the ocean
and he swears he hears the words,
"Jump in and find out!"

He leaps into the river 
but Picasso drowns
swept away by the rush 
to an afterlife.

To a world of symmetry 
he had long forgotten
where fractals from the sun
harvest perception for the Watcher.

Light bounces and dances
creating choruses of color.
Vibrating beautiful shapes
and rhythms
that absorb Picasso
like canvas drinks paint.

Then Picasso
        ...wakes up.

© 1998 by David Bozzi