The Painted Picture

I sit upon the well-worn vinyl couch and apprehensively await my turn to see the doctor. Others, deep in thought, glance up a moment, then resume their worlds. I scan the room, a mixture of decor- odd tables, lamps. But now my eyes are fixed upon the papered wall, a strange design of rambling shapes. Amid this chaos hangs a painting filled with imagery of life. I fall into this peaceful, quiet scene as graceful birds with arched wings fly above. Neath blue-gray skies, there winding down a hill, a brook meanders to the lovely lake, as nestled buildings on the velvet grass are hugged by two dirt roads. And there, my love with horse and wagon, riding to the house- our home, surrounded by the blossomed trees. Content within, I happily await- inside this painting, work of art, of life- secured within a well-framed boundary, suspended on a nail upon a wall; a sense-filled concept, so confined, compact, divided from the abstractness beyond its stable, gilded frame of burnished gold. I hear my name now called, and it's my turn to see the doctor- and my mind now leaps outside the gilded frame- into a world unlike the painted picture on the wall. May 6, 2016 Premiere Contest: Imagist Any Form Sponsor: Brian Strand