Oleander Blues*

Edvard Munch, The Day After, 1895.

Rememberance

The night slowly crawls in dark serpantine mists

from my window i breathe the gray shadows

along with those happy couples 

passing by, kissing

It's late, their steps mingle in my mind, 

it could have been us

walking down that street, 

our hands entwinted like branches of magic trees

our lips lost in innumerable kisses

and between our eyes, blue songbirds flying... 

But I am just a shade of myself

Searching for the white oleander

to mix with my wine

so i can smile again, drunk

so i can forget again, bargaining

just for some moments of 

peaceful slumber 

until the next night

and the night after...

Your photo by the bed

your smile a nail in my heart

I'm searching for the root of white oleander

to mix with my wine

so i can chase away, screaming,

your face from my eyes,

so i can convince myself 

to wait for another day, dreaming ... 

* "...the root of onotheras (oleander) administered in wine makes the temper gentler and more cheerful. [...]

if this is dried, it gives off a fragrance like wine. And this does not seem surprising, since there is a sort of ' bouquet ' given off by a thing which has the peculiar quality of wine." 

Theophrastus

(Enquiry into plants, IX. xvm. 2 -xix.)