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XXII - The History of Bedrooms

Stripping down old pink walls

(we're painting it blue for maturing tastes)

we have a new light, a small purple chandelier sort of thing

with pink and white glass jewels to hang on it

  -in the mornings it reflected light from the east window

            in shattering rainbow patterns on the ceiling- 

and there is a newly acquired light blue bedside table,

old with two little draws and a cabinet with metal netting

(you pick these things up at vide-greniers in muddy fields on frosty Saturday mornings)

stripping down the old pink walls

was a pretty sight

when behind old pink, there was older lavender wallpaper

peeling and delicate, still quite pretty

and I wonder still if it was a little girl's room, much like mine

with toys and books and precious euphoric things

or a mother's boudoir smelling as lavender wallpaper rooms must of-

and perhaps with a vanity desk, full of perfumes and powders

and scents of whimsical women in the afternoon glaze, dreamily

(wasted fancies for a small country house bedroom)

(27th January 2014)