A Life in Colour

The challenge as I rise from bed

Is turning greys to green and red.

The drabness of the everyday

Takes a rainbow, turns it grey.

The colours sharp are lit by sun.

Red, orange, yellow, new begun.

Green, blue, violet quickly fade

Primary, pastel, into shade.

A squirrel, seal, a worm, a whale

Don’t worry that they live so pale.

The tortoise carries well its shell

And slowly lives its long life well.

The matter in our brains is grey

That keeps us thinking, helps us play

Life is not in black and white

Not can or can’t but could and might.

And as the children march to school

It’s greyness which is made the rule

The shorts and jumpers seem so plain

Forcing kids to look the same.

A walk along a busy street

Can feel a drag upon our feet.

Pushing trolleys round a store

Less can quickly feel like more.

Another day, the same old stuff,

And keeping on can feel quite tough.

Curtains flung, we wipe the mist,

The cloud and fog and smoke persist.

But grey is not a lack of light

It carries all and dispels night.

The smallest reds, the emerald green

Are there, deserving to be seen.

Our inner prism takes each hue

And splits it, turning sharp and true.

Greyness seems a lifeless shade,

But focus makes all seem new made.

And as we age our life gets greyer,

Colour fuels our thought and prayer.

Today our life’s in black and white,

But past life’s sharp and pure and bright.

So greyness here upon my head,

Perhaps I’ll dye to turn it red.

And live each day in colours pure

And make delight of every chore.

But sometimes greyness suits my mood,

To spray it gold would seem quite rude.

The fog is numbing, muffled, cosy

It makes the thorn still feel quite rosy.

At rainbow’s end there’s golden dreams,

The bricks are yellow, lights are greens.

Eyes are hazel, green or blue,

The clouds disperse when I’m with you.

Our body’s end will be in dust,

Buildings, cars will turn to rust.

So let us celebrate the glow

And make our lives a pure rainbow!