Poppies

Midnight was approaching
When the queen entered the ballroom
She could dimly see it in the surroundings
Candles and a short hall were lighting up
As she stood in the bottom of the ballroom
Her light was reflected in a small window
Of the hall
And her face was also in the reflection

Her nails turned to thick, black, fingernails
She felt something taste her lips
And realised that she was being touched by a bloody man
The bloody man was changed for another
Thick, transparent, ink-black
And began to seduce the queen
Then she was laid on a crystal couch
And rubbed with big, green leaves
Until she shone

The cat burst into the room
And started to help the queen
He squatted down by her feet
And began rubbing up her soles
With the air of someone shining shoes in the street

She does not remember whose speech she said this morning
How it rose bubbles
Or how these slippers were clasping by themselves
And holding clasps

Some force snatched her up and put her before a mirror
And a royal diamond crown gleamed in her hair

A man appeared from somewhere
And hung a heavy, opal-framed picture of a black poodle
By a heavy chain around her breast
This adornment was extremely burdensome to the queen
The chain at once began to chafe her neck
And the picture pulled her down
But something compensated her for the inconveniences
That the chain with the black poodle caused her
And this was the difference with which she began to treat him

She stepped out of the room with the queen and the man
And entered total darkness

The cat whispered
"I give the signal"
"Oooooooh"
Screeched the cat piercingly
And then she cried out and shut her eyes for a few seconds
The ball fell apart all at once
In a flick of lights and with a change in sound and smell

Under the arm of the man
She saw herself in a tropical forest
Red-breasted, wing-tailed parrots
Flock from liana to liana
And cried out deafeningly
But the forest seemed endless

And its barkhouse stuffiness changed at once to the ballroom
With columns of silver, glittering sparkles of stone
This ballroom, just like the forest
Was completely empty
Except for some weepers
Weepers with silver bands on their heads
Who were standing by the columns
And their faces turned a dirty brown from excitement

When she flew into the ballroom with her retinue
The man let go of her arm and whispered
"Straight to the poppies"