turbine 02

 
 
  
 
Turbine 02
Audio
Poetry
Gregory Dally
Emily Dobson
Cliff Fell
Janis Freegard
James Gardner
Chloe Gordon
Paula Harris
Chris House
Elizabeth Isichei
Andrew Johnston
Julie Leibrich
Anna Livesey
Robert McGonigal
Katherine Morice
Bridget Musters
Robin Naylor
Nic Newman
Naomi O'Connor
A. E. Rothman
Frances Samuel
Richard Smith
Catherine Vidler-Smith
Margaret Vos
Louise Wrightson
Fiction
Non-Fiction
  

A. E. Rothman

Ophelia

(Inspired by Millais, Tate Britain)

My eyes are open now.
I know you watch me, judge me.
Your eyes linger as you imagine the waters eddy around me,
Swirling my flowers into tiny hamlets
And away again.
Ophelia, I lie, revived in paint so thick I can feel it
Seeping into my pretty mouth,
Through my precious lips,
Soaking my hair and ruining my dress.
In silence, I lie, awaiting my painted perfection to cease, but knowing,
With the silence of the birds and insects
And the stillness of the leaves,
That I am here immortalised.
And so I answer the Prince's eternal question.
What answer is there but to be, to always be;
For he believed I was pretty in life,
But I know I will always be beautiful in death.

 
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