‘Felicidade’ (2017) © Bernadete Claudino
In 2017 I received from a Brazilian artist, Bernadete Claudino (Serra de São Bento, Rio Grande do Norte 1970) a beautiful painting, Felicidade, a tribute to her childhood's happiness. It inspired me to write the lines below. This poem will be published in December 2020 in an international anthology, Poetry - The best of 2020 (Inner Child Press). The Dutch version will be published in November 2020 in Ballustrada, a Dutch literary magazine. More information about the artist:
https://www.colouredbrush.com/
Hummingbirds forever
So smooth the childhood hills, with fields
full of sunflowers, shining in a dancing light
where the hummingbirds have now returned, passing by
like ancient drones, forward, backward, high, low
Purifying nectar with raging wings, deep
from sweet chalices, they hang still
in the moment, writing slow
rules about happiness, sublime
circling around ultimate pleasure
as disciples of their worshiped god
You always wanted to accompany them
and freeze their flight on canvas
just before they disappear, over the Brazilian
hills, behind the wordless mountains