Pierrot means ‘sad clown’.
After I looked it up I understood Ferdinand’s annoyance.
Clowns are trivial and sad ones oxymorons.
He thought himself above the world,
But Marianne knew better.
She was the wiser of the two:
Fickle, spontaneous, active,
But insightful and cutting like a child.
Poor Ferdinand really was sad and silly,
But he hated that about himself.
And, lost in his own mind,
He thought he might create a life and great work.
“You speak to me with words and I look at you with feelings,”
Said his betrayer.
Can you know and see and do great things
Wherever you are?
I wish he’d known himself.