Painted Fire

“Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself.”
~Mark Twain


Romantic phrases fly like flocks of birds--
lofty words.

A callous look betrays his calculus,
incredulous

fuel for a flaming funeral pyre--
painted fire.

There is nothing like exposing a liar
to deprive passion’s flame of oxygen
and bring pain, when he condescends to pen
lofty words, incredulous painted fire.

      

Author’s note: The Ovillejo is a playful old Spanish verse form originally used by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in his classic novel “Don Quixote.” A description in Spanish with a link to the English translation can be found here: http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=5469

Additional examples can be found here:
http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Ovillejos

Unfortunately, the rich Spanish rhymes don’t carry over into the English versions.