Tuesday, March 24, 2009

painted pony

The man walked up the path with purpose and ascended the three steps to the front door. The door was bright red. Beside it was the doorbell. The doorbell was set in the center of a ceramic pig approximately ten inches tall; the pig was clearly handmade,as though in a pottery class, with a bright pink fired glaze. It had a blank gaze, bright white and black eyes, a round snout and a tuft of (also pink) hair in the center of its forehead, of the sort squeezed from a garlic press. The doorbell, a white plastic button, was set in the pig's stomach.

The man pressed the button.

"Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, when youre older, must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
Were captive on the carousel of time
We cant return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game"

Joni Mitchell's voice came out of the pig's impassive mouth.

"Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him,
Take your time, it wont be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
Were captive on the carousel of time
We cant return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game"

The man looked around uncomfortably.

"So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
Therell be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
Were captive on the carousel of time
We cant return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game."

As the last note faded away, someone who had obviously been standing behind the door opened it and stood aside to allow the man to enter.

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