Funeral of a Surrealist
Surrealist’s funeral is held in the air,
yet, his coffin is not carried by a supersonic speed plane
flying through the open sky—altitude higher than the stratosphere,
gazing at the sun or a blimp drifting away, in the air, in a leisurely way, looking down upon the earth
but on a cloud pulled by an old eyeless pack-horse(1)—
the horse lost his eyes stealing a glance
on a flawless beautiful naked goddess on a moonlit night,
surrounded by a dense fog that makes everyone unable to see
the sky or the earth.
The funeral procession, though no one follows, we hear the wail,
someone must have crept up from underworld or descended from above, they follow the funeral procession.
As the sadness long held in a heart bursts,
the wail becomes louder and when it becomes louder,
furious Zeus frustrated from failing to rape a mortal maiden,
condemns the mourners “why the wail, impudent mortals!”
and casts thunderbolt to pierce the heart of earth, then
the deafening roar grows louder and swallows the mourners’ wail.
As the mourners’ wail die down
dark clouds rush together in the sky,
they pour onto the wilderness and become a torrential rain.
The water rises, the mountain floats, time heaps up high;
a lonely boat passes through between streetlight poles
lower than the river bed; when all the waters
have poured into the sea a rainbow appears,
but it’s odd! only three primary colors hangs on
the mountaintop, as if it wants to say something on its mind.
As rainbow fads away, Apollo hastens through a clear sky
driving his golden chariot chasing game;
I would rather hold my children’s corpses
fallen from Apollo’s merciless arrows in my arms
and become a lifeless rock with the never ceasing tears(2)
than to live long as the weight of a handful of dust
withering, shrinking and decaying under his blessing.(3)
Is that why, the surrealist’s corpse
pulled by old eyeless pack-horse strikingly resembles
a blasphemous artist wearing a pointed-up mustache
with gold-chained melted watch in his vest pocket?(4)
Is that why, though his body is eaten by the worms(5)
not able to obtain Peter’s sanction(6) to enter either paradise or hell?
Is that why, he is wandering in the air(7) surrounded by
a thick cloud holding a piece of saecula saeculorum
with disabled two fingers stripped off from
the mustached artist’s distorted watch?
Note: 1. Tiresias 2. Niobe 3. Cumaean Sibyl 4. Dali 5. Baudelaire 6. Matt 16:19
7. Oedipus
Copyright © Su Ben | Year Posted 2014
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