There's a twisted irony in the word paradise,
one that haunts me to this day
And the procession of ghosts that go along with it
most often refuse to go away.
Never mortal but nonetheless real,
they tease me in the worst way
Playing tricks on my senses
til no longer can I can keep the tears at bay.
Flowers become only red,
their smell so sweet I can hardly stand it.
Water is crystal clear,
so pure the rays reflecting off the surface sting my eyes.
And the green comes alive,
threatening to overtake me and leave me trapped
In a warm and wet embrace that once was so comforting
but is now bittersweet.
I've had my share of paradise.
It only gives me hell.
Author notes
Random thought wanting to be expounded upon. Bittersweet for reasons not so random but ones I don't feel like explaining. So just make what sense of it you can.
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 9 of 9
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Something nostalgic in tone in the first few sections. Emotional baggage of some kind, methinks.*
Red is passion, of some kind. Temptation, possibly... You're afraid though.
Water is clairty or truth, perhaps what you don't want to acknowledge or understand. Insight of some kind.
Though at the green I get lost. "Once so comforting" makes it sound like something you no longer enjoy, while "bittersweet" lends it a tired tone.
I like the elemental palettes of it. Though you have a trinity, not the classical four. Inherent instability in threes, but also something final, resonating.
Wind is missing. And something else.
There is power in the unspoken.
(* = newest one of yours truly pertains to a similar subject.)
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You truly do think too much. This was very simple, for reasons that, as I mentioned, I didn't feel like explaining. But I will for you, because you went to so much trouble to strip this one bare.
Paradise is my childhood, which is and always will be Hawaii. I really was talking about red flowers. Red hibiscus grew along the fence of my home there, so whenever I see them, I am reminded of that. I meant literally crystal clear water, because the Pacific is so beautiful and clean to me, which is why I hate the Atlantic. Finally, the green is the island itself. Its overpowering and overwhelming, which is why I always think of it as an embrace. One that I miss, for what it represented as much as for the reality of that place.
But I've resolved to myself that Hawaii will never be as pure or beautiful as it used to be, considering all that happened. Still, one cannot ignore their childhood...thus my hell, albeit in a melodramatic sense. You were right about the nostalgia, at least. I think of Hawaii often. Maybe I will go back someday. I want to. -
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Haha... Silly me.
You should go though. It might be a...good escape.
Don't go alone. -
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I want to. I think I will someday.
But you know...as much as I wasn't intending this to have a deeper meaning, your interpretation still makes some sense. Ha. Funny. -
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In what way?
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The overall symbolism of the objects I chose still applies, just more abstractly than would be the case had it been intentional.
Red being temptation or passion. Thinking of my childhood tempts me in many ways...to indulge in nostalgia and regret, and also to ignorantly label it as perfect. Also, I have always been passionate about Hawaii and was, in some ways, at my most passionate when I lived there, before change happened at least.
Water being clarity or truth. My own realizations of my idealizations and denials.
And I think you understand the green. -
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Indeed.
I know enough not to have my stabs at insight mean nothing.
Is it that I describe a mere pattern that somehow applies to you in the loosest sense, or that I know enough to say the right things? -
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Ha, now you're just fishing. But a little of both, I suppose.
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Indeed.
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