Very cool... Like quite a few of your other stories, I'm not entirely sure I understand this, but it's still very beautiful.
It does have a good rhythm to be read out loud, and it struck me as being very visual - image flowing into image, like in a piece of video-art.

With a piece like this, I can't really get enough of a handle on it to really offer criticism, so instead I can only point to word choices. Even then, the only thing I can really point to is in the first line, "his persistence astounded me" - I'm not entirely sure why, but I don't like 'astounded' there, it sounds like the wrong word. Dunno, maybe 'astonished' or just 'surprised' would work better. Just a thought.
And towards the end, "but hile the farmer..." I think you mean 'while'.

Anyway, beautiful piece, and I wish I could have heard you read it out loud because I'm sure it's even better that way.

--
"That's how it starts. Murder doesn't seem like a big deal, but then you end up lying, voting in elections... even selling your own books."
--Corso, in The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

"Hile" is a dark tower reference, as opposed to being a wrong word, or a Hitler reference. It's like "Hail". I think. ><

--
-Ravie

It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Ah, okay... Just that for anyone who hasn't read the books, it just looks like a typo - especially when it's not capitalized.

--
"That's how it starts. Murder doesn't seem like a big deal, but then you end up lying, voting in elections... even selling your own books."
--Corso, in The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Thanks for letting me know.

--
-Ravie

It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds.

I don't know if one can critique SoC pieces.

It is what it is, and it's for your to decide.

All I can say is that the first line of this has had that damn "I rode through the desert on a horse with no name, it felt good to get out of the rain" song in my head for WEEKS!

For what it is, I think that it is exactly what SoC is supposed to bring out. I liked it.

--
If dreams are like movies...
Then memories are films about ghosts.

~Kindred~

Ah, stream of consciousness. I hope you don't mind if I just compliment you. It's hard for me to offer criticism on something like this, though I'll give it if I see the opportunity.

I rode through the desert on a horse with no eyelashes
Good way to start. Very compelling. Does it refer to anything? If not, I commend your spontaneous originality.

his persistence astounded me
I like this bit, too. You jump right into it, though I suppose that's standard with stream of consciousness stuff. Anyway, cool detail.

maybe thinking he would melt and then the ants would come to sip up the juice - like dew - and go back to that anthill off in the distance - a shining sea and glimmering clocks that blind mine and the horse’s eyes
This part seems to refer to the painting much more obviously than the rest of the story. The latter half especially seems to develop its own course of progress. I'd say this relies too heavily on the painting, but it doesn't. It's all very interesting, really. I like the inclusion of the ants.

and the curtain drops so does memory sinking or sliding over the flooding waters near but far with that grand father perched on a tree
This "sentence" and the areas around it lack coherency, but that's not a bad thing. Just pointing it out. I picked this segment because I like the image of a grand father perched in a tree.

if you drop your keys on the metal pan you’ll wake up in time to catch the dream - or perhaps the ants as they tiptoe over your feet
The whole piece is very surreal, but this especially caught my attention.

and the bird perched on his shoulder
Do the two instances of the word perch have any subliminal connection? Or is it just coincidence? Interesting either way, but I can tell there are references I don't understand in here and they're very intruiging (hile, for instance, but there are no doubt more).

I'm noticing a repetition of stuff in the first half. The bridging of the two parts is cool, though if there's some intent behind it I don't quite get it.

like Ophelia they drop
Hamlet's Ophelia? I'll assume so. Good reference, particularly with the petals follow-up.

this is no desert and the anthill is erupting with seconds and moments and years soon to be plastered to the faces and rewind the hands of father time.
A great conclusion, and it seems to refer to the painting one last, fleeting time.

All in all a good piece. Very engaging stuff. Hell, you probably do stream of consciousness better than me.

--
Good things come to those who wait. Good things come faster to those who don't.

Eeeee.

--
-Ravie

It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds.