René Magritte, “The Menaced Assassin”
The scene: The Swiss Alps chalet of
Mademoiselle Camille Gautier
heiress to the Marchand Deschamps winery fortune
Newly occupied, the rooms remain sparse
Mademoiselle, age 29, unclothed,
lies motionless on her red chaise lounge
Her limbs, relaxed, akimbo
Her scarf draped casually across her shoulders
Mademoiselle’s throat, severed to the spine,
blood oozing from her lips
blood oozing from her lips
Her lover, her killer, Valentin Lacroix, is about to depart
At ease, nonchalant, impeccably dressed
Bag packed, hat and coat resting neatly on the chair
He pauses at the gramophone
And listens one last time to a favorite aria
Unruffled, Lacroix shows no remorse
Having falsely imagined Camille’s infidelity,
He has extracted the ultimate revenge
Hand in pocket, gripping the weapon, he listens nostalgically
To the song that the lovers once shared
Three brothers, the triplets Girard from the village,
Peer in from the balcony
Have witnessed the entire tragedy
Impassive, unblinking, they remind us that evil deeds
never escape the public’s unrelenting eye
Unknown to the assassin, Mademoiselle’s father
doubting Lacroix’s character and intentions
has hired two St. Moritz detectives,
the twin brothers Gaspard and Gabin Fournier
to follow Lacroix and gather the facts
Lurking in the foyer, Gaspard has his club, Gabin his net
At song’s end, the Fourniers will entrap the assassin
Perhaps clubbing him to unconsciousness or worse
The violent death of Camille Gautier
offers many truths to young and old
Life is a precarious, unpredictable affair
Momentous behaviors result from folly and delusion
Men act with violence, brutal men murder women
Love and hate, seeming opposites, are inseparably intertwined
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