Beyond the brushstrokes

Two boys, worn yet resolute, trekked miles each day,
One wielded a brush, the other earned pay.
Bound by poverty, yet joy remained near,
Their dignity flourished, despite all their fear.

One twilight eve, the artist's hand swayed,
He painted a world where their hopes never frayed.
But as they beheld his canvas so bright,
They fell through the colors, lost in the night.

In this vibrant realm, all seemed so grand,
Where laughter and joy reached every hand.
Yet the bread was a mirage, their hunger grew dire,
The warmth of the day turned to shadows of fire.

Hallucinations danced in a kaleidoscope swirl,
Visions of laughter, a sweet, fleeting world.
They wandered through moments, their dreams intertwined,
In a faded domain where illusions aligned.

The laughter grew distant, and colors grew pale,
In this painted paradise, they sensed a betrayal.
For as joy cloaked them in a shimmering guise,
Reality whispered, with hollow goodbyes.

They craved the green fields from the artist's brush,
Yet time slipped away in a suffocating hush.
In the depths of their minds, the shadows took hold,
Their bodies grew weary, their spirits turned cold.

With every heartbeat, the light started to wane,
In the fading world, they faced endless pain.
What once was a dream now turned into plight,
As the canvas enclosed them in a veil of night.

At last, they awoke, their vision now blurred,
The weight of existence was painfully stirred.
They fought for escape, but their strength was now gone,
In the grasp of the painting, their lives faded on.

Two boys, worn yet defiant, lost in despair,
In the struggle for life, they found little to share.
As dreams turned to dust in the twilight's embrace,
They vanished like whispers, without leaving a trace.

In a world once vibrant, now faded and grim,
They learned the harsh truth that shadows had dimmed.
For in the chase of a dream, they lost their own fight,
Two souls intertwined, fading into the night.