Oscar looked up at the church steeple. It seemed to be trying to cut the sky but he knew it would never reach it. He turned into the bookshop. “There’s a confidence in your step today”, noticed Greg. “It’s my call” said Oscar cryptically. He fumbled through the titles and stopped at ‘Wild Flowers’. “How much”, he said, holding up the volume. Greg looked up and quickly cast his eyes down. “Eight”, he sighed.
“People tell you what they really think of you don’t they”, Oscar interjected. Greg looked up, interested and peered at him. “Yes, they do”, he said soberly. “No words can fix it really can they?” Oscar continued. “Only your own Oscar, only your own”, Greg answered slowly. There was silence. “How are your own these days?” Greg’s voice seemed to dance around the room and get lost somewhere. Oscar wondered what words reached people. He watched so many sink into the floor. “They are afloat on the sea”, he said finally.
He turned on his side as if to face the future and brought his new found book. “I’ll take it”. Oscar walked home and looked in at the gardens as he passed by. “The flowers exist perfectly by themselves”, he thought. “No one needs to call them a flower.” The universe was like the air he breathed. It expanded and contracted. He loved their trails and they glittered before his eyes in the evening sun. He reached the forest which was a short distance from the back of his house. Tonight he would light a glorious crackling fire. He collected the wood in quiet contemplation.
Nature held him. The eyes of the forest knew who he was. He went to the post box looking for the love letter that would never come. It had been too long. Later that night, he sat by the fire and scrawled in his notebook. ‘My name is Oscar Wilde you see. Don’t look for doubt or regret in me. I am wild and I am free’.
Lena O’ Connell
Lena O’ Connell graduated from the Limerick School of Art and Design in 2009. She specialised in fine art, sculpture. Lena currently lives and works in Tipperary, Ireland. She teaches art to children and is aspiring to undertake a higher diploma in art teaching.
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