shot in the dark

there was a blank canvas

in the middle of an empty room

everyday, someone walked in

with cans of paint on her hands

and painted on the canvas

until drowsiness took over her  

she began the painting

with the colour of night sky

and blended in shades of violet

the canvas that had once been blank,

turned into summer’s night

then she dipped her fingers

into a can of fluorescent paint

and touched the sky within her reach,

one star for each day of her return  

at last, the canvas was full of stars

and the picture is halfway done

she was working on an outline of the forest

when somebody barged into the room

she turned on her back,

just as the figure pulled out a revolver

and shot the painting behind her

until the sky was full of holes

where the stars had once been.