Blue

I was born bright blue.

A vibrancy reflected in my eyes, that boldened, became near-twilight indigo

Where stars sequestered and waited to burn up in blinding flashes of light that should’ve turned me into a whole new planet.

But they did so quietly,

Smothered by thickness until I became so dark,

So opaque,

That greys were all I knew.

They greys hovered until eventually, like all things, they had to give way to something new.

Unravelling a river until each stream pours out its own path.

Now I’m teal,

Ochre,

And washed-out crimson.

I prefer my deeper colours.

But I never knew colour until I met you.

Blue, you had that too.

Mine had faded to the familiar pools of rain that spelled calmness, blankets and tea in the afternoon, never much more and seemingly content under all that self-made comfort.

Yet yours spoke of sunny days bathed in golden glow,

Tasting sun and salt on your skin.

I wondered if mine were ever like that,

Their own force of nature, an inextinguishable hue.

Pale mornings came and went until light burst through,

Uncontainable, wrecking its way, refracting millions of times so that you'd never catch it.

At some point you just have to let it go.

I have no idea where it came from (or maybe I do?),

But that bright blue came back,

Along with fluorescent orange, fuchsia, fresh-grass green and a yellow straight from the sun.

And they reminded me, brightly,

Like the ocean,

I can be everything at once.