Artist’s Note:
The drawings were created using pencils, India ink, pastels, and a personalized method involving colored powder and pastel shavings.

I cling to memories

of a carefree past,

walking through gardens

of happy times gone by.

I seek refuge

from days of solitude,

I sit in the shade of the trees

with darkening foliage.

I walk along paths

of melancholy autumn and

the song of a parrot

seem to awaken buried memories

among the intertwined branches.

The silent flutter of a

butterfly’s wings carries with it

ghosts with familiar faces.

I see them down there,

sitting on the benches where

they had always waited for me

with loving gazes.

Now, I know this is an enchanted

garden, that restores the illusion of life

for those who are no longer here.

Viviana De Cecco is a writer, translator, and visual artist. She works as a content writer and book reviewer for Tint Journal and NewMyths. Her translations of twentieth-century poetry and short stories from Spanish, French and Italian have appeared in Azonal Translation, The Polyglot Magazine and Atèlier d’écriture. Her fiction and poetry have also appeared in Poets’ Choice, Aôthen Magazine, Seaside Gothic, Yuvoice.org, and others. As an artist, her visual art appeared in Mud Season Review, Acta Victoriana, Spellbinder Magazine, MayDay Magazine. Since 2013, she has published short stories, poems and novels of various genres. Her literary works and photographs can be found at: https://vivianadececco.altervista.org/