A Life in Colors

The sky over our apartment was a soft gentle blue

It spoke of freedom and a world that was mine

I used to watch the clouds drift by on slow summer days

Thinking about where this life was going to take me

My youngest brother’s eyes were the warmest brown

He was a newborn the first time I held him

Though everyone says that brown eyes are boring

I saw stars in his the first time they opened

Life was the brightest after he was born

When every day felt like an exciting adventure

After we left the old apartment and made way to our new house

I looked to that brilliant blue sky and felt nothing but hope

The carpet had yellow streaks of sunlight in our new home

The backyard had healthy green grass teeming with life

There were bigger windows for watching the clouds

And there was room to play with all three of my brothers

But the bright skies clouded over after I started up school

I got first hand exposure to the cruelty of children

Although most of the teasing was petty at best

The jab about losing my grandmother was what broke me inside

Grey stained the world the night my grandmother died

The sky was as dark and unforgiving as grief itself

The sun rose the next morning as it always did

But the world has never been as bright since losing her

I never trusted as easily since oversharing in class

My world was forever changed after facing tragedy

I stopped praying at night and feared the inky blackness of death

Optimism turned to bitterness, blue became red

My rageful passion came alive whenever I started to lose myself

To school, family hardships, and the passage of time

I enjoyed how red was vibrant and alive, refusing to be dulled

Nothing like the numb grey forever at the edge of my vision

My optimism was gone and I hated elementary

I got into fights with both my classmates and brothers

But I still loved my family and I began to love art

In spite of the hardships, the pink of the good times softened my red

After meeting new friends and becoming less lonely

My life was less grey and held so much more color

My middle school days were a bright happy blue

I let my guard down and allowed myself to hope

But as quick as it came, I had to leave it all for a new home

We moved further this time, to a much colder state

After saying my goodbyes and packing up my life

The sky was nothing but clouds, it was just an endless grey

I despised the rain and hated the clouds

The longer they stayed, the further I drifted

Red, blue, pink, grey

What was the point of colors when life was so ugly?

It’s almost amazing how empty I felt

Living a colorless life with nothing to look forward to

Were cloudy grey skies worth waking up for

When the numbness of sleep made it all the same?

Then my mom took me to the ocean and we watched the waves

I thought about everything that led up to this point

The swirling colors that make up my story

Made me realize that there was still beauty to be found in the life I have lived

Leaving school was the first step to developing my life

I accepted the fact that it didn’t go as planned

On my last day of school, it was a bright sunny day

I looked to the sky, and wondered where life would take me

Instead of dwelling on what went wrong and spiraling further

I created art instead to make my future brighter

I sketched happy children and wrote sad stories

I made a little angel on my grandmother’s birthday

As the months turned to years, the color slowly crept back

My sky got bluer and my dreams were redder

Purple was the new me, a mix of my good times and bad

Grey skies were no longer unwelcome, they became a new part of home