Your Pallor Told Stories

seeing black the day you went in

(hospital, cold, cold, so cold),

as your pale pink lips stuttered—

I felt the gray of sorrow submerge me.

watching green lines spike and fall

(you were small, small, so small),

the blue of your gown spotted with blood,

I closed my eyes tight until all I saw was red.

then your fingertips ran yellow in drips

(machines beeping, beeping, so much beeping),

till they brought in white pages to sign

and already then I had orange tulips in my mind.

one last time, and violet seeped under your skin

(you were getting cold, cold, so cold, so fast),

and my mind fell back into indigo waves,

purple skies ready to glimpse your going away.

goodbye was a spectrum, a wheel, a rainbow

(and I fell, fell, fell so hard till I got back up).