Overlooking a café at night time

[Sharra]

This was written in response to Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace.
new version

Loading her brush
with Cadmium Orange
she brings the lamplight below
to her blank wall.

Now she can see.

Shutters stripe her face
like prison bars.
The tables beneath beckon her
to sit, to stargaze,
but she cannot leave.

Shades of Payne’s Grey and Yellow Ochre
carve cobbles across the floor,
arching her toes over roundness
after the flatness of wood.

Raw Sienna sculpts a chair,
Titanium White, an empty table.
And Olive Green branches sketched
on the walls, overshadow
footprint-smudged cobbles.

On her ceiling she paints Orion, Cassiopeia
Pegasus, staring up at them,
moving her mouth
in silent conversation.

At the table she paints another chair
with Lamp Black boots tucked under.
Her brush strokes legs, chest
arms and face, up to
hair and hat.

Touching
his paint-stained hands,
she points out
the constellations to him.

Original version
Shutters frame the window,
their shadows striping her face
like prison bars.
The tables beneath beckon her
to sit, to stargaze,
but she cannot leave.

Loading her brush
with Cadmium Orange, she copies
the lantern hanging below
onto her blank wall.

Now she can see.

Shades of Payne’s Grey and Yellow Ochre
carve cobbles across the floor,
arching her toes over roundness
after the flatness of wood.

Raw Sienna sculpts a chair,
Titanium White, a table
reflecting lamplight.
Olive Green branches
sketched on the walls cast
shadows over her
footprint-smudged cobbles.

On her ceiling she paints Orion, Cassiopeia
Pegasus, staring up at them,
moving her mouth
in silent conversation.

At the table she paints another chair
with Lamp Black boots tucked under.
Her brush strokes legs, chest
arms and face, up to
hair and hat.

Touching
his paint-stained hands,
she points out
the constellations to him.