Paint me as a dead soul
with a halo of black joy
Medusa in a mirror
etched out in acid
the flesh, the image, the reflection
One who dwells in scarlet darkness
like animals in palaces
drawing blood

The flesh, the image, the reflection
 [bad word] the illusion

Paint me as you see me
from memory or history
In a fever or a frenzy
Paint your lucid dreams and visions
in a chamber of nightmares
in a temple of locusts
so violent, vile, and vivid
May the colors make you fearful
blind and hypnotizing
in our subterranean heaven
Paint my [bad word] with dragonflies
my eyes as bright as diamonds
my heart open like an ulcer
or a sacred crimson rose
Bathed in blood
or drowning in my bed
with the fragrance from the flowers
in the gardens of the dead

Paint ghostly foxes, cats and camels
a red dog and a black dog
paint a putrid sunset
in verdigris and violet
ochre, amber, mauve

Four monks
carrying a goat
over the snows
to nowhere
And paint the shades
 [bad word] with evening
Peacock angels
dream of leaving
Paint me as you see me
paint me as I see me
Paint me as a Dead Soul