Colour, Texture And Form Of Happy Laughter Poem by Margaret Alice

Terry Pratchett has such insight, he knows that in
our universe things are not as they are, but more
as people imagine them to be, meaning what the
philosopher Kant said, humanity imposes structure
and meaning through thought processes upon a
meaningless world

Pratchett knows mind shapes body, then that body
becomes a jelly mould, setting shapes on its contents,
a human mind can’t live in an eagle body, the human
mind’s power is lost while enclosed within eagle form,
becoming an eagle dreaming of strange things like
walking and talking

Pratchett knows words are creative, forming rainbow-
edged clouds, while laughter curves away in shades of
orange and red – this is exactly what I experienced as
we stared at fields of fine flowers in the Western Cape,
I felt the flowers were visible representations in colour,
texture and form

Of happy laughter!

Terry Pratchett “The Witches Trilogy – Equal Rites”
Gollancz Edition 1995
p.13, p.48-49, p.51