Her only friend

Watercolor on paper.

11x15"

Original watercolor artwork "Her only friend" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
'Brown bricks, bare bulbs'

little feet on the cold hallway floor,
raised voices just beyond the door,
cold ice replaces childlike freedom,
this place called home is now a prison.

the almighty thud as mum hit the ground,
a child should never hear that sound.
eyes, too innocent to take it in,
now stuck in time and unable to begin.

upstairs now and the floorboards creak,
just a mattress on the floor
with discoloured sheets.

the view from her window
is another block of flats,
brown bricks, bare bulbs -
she finds safety in that.

a bare bulb,
without a shade is very bright,
the arguing is loud,
but the bulb brings light.

she wonders,
'who is sitting beneath that bare bulb?
a child having her bedtime story told?'

the window is her place to go,
she gets lost in that yellow glow.
disassociation becomes her only friend,
a way to survive... until it ends.

then, it starts all over again,
and the bare bulb, her only friend...

beckons her right back in.


Susannah Lee