I think of you in colors
I mix them on the palette of my mind:
Blue-green
Like the ocean held in jade
A purple so deep
I tumble into its embrace
Chestnut brown
Rich and sweeping
The scent of your hair
The warmth of your skin
For twenty years I have painted you this way
Hung them on the central pillar of my world
Now I see the folly of art
The guile of painters
I don’t blame you for burning my portraits
Idealized caricatures to fight
The loneliness that stalks me
I must face the depths of my faults
How foolish I’ve been
To think of you in color
~r