A New Life

By Eva Sevcik, 18, Wisconsin

I lay quietly now, like the hush during a funeral. 

Father stands lofty, towering over mother. 

Her halo darkened with each passing second. 

They talk; no, they argue. What happened?

I lay quietly now, they do not know I can hear. 

Their words have led me to my fate. 

Ombre tangerine orange into bloody crimson surrounds us. 

They argue quietly now, so as not to wake me.

Don’t they know I’m dead?

I will remain here for now. My ghostly skin, 

pale complexion obstructed with each second. 

My life may be gone now, but a new one appears. 

Roots deep yet thin, emerald green emerging from within.

He is death, she an angel. But me? I am old, I am new, 

I am dead, yet I am alive all at the same time. 

I draw my final breath now, 

so the seedling within me can blossom. 

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In my Creative Writing class we had an assignment of writing an Ekphrastic poem. We were to choose one of three famous images/art pieces and write a story behind it in any way we perceived the images. My ekphrastic poem was written on Leonora Carrington’s oil painting, The Saints of Hampstead Heath, 1997.