Colours: A Travellers Guide

Red, is a raging sun, a glorious sky,

a flash of silk, a sign of danger;

It mixes and blends on the artist’s palette,

colours the rivers in an inglorious way.

Red is the red of blood and cream coaches,

of carriages speeding through fire and night,

soulful sky at the day’s end - or a bright beginning?

The vibrance of Green to the poppy,

blood-soaked battlefields, the prick of a needle.

It is the colour of that noble breed,

Red, the loved Labrador Retriever

with redness of eye and outstretched tongue,

teasing like the brave bull, cheating death

eliciting danger as if on the wing.

Green, grass so wild, cut, bowling lines

delineating and forming, enabling

as shaping the canopy aloft and true.

Verdant, heraldic tree lined routes, hillsides,

a treasured vegetable garden, virescence of maturity,

the colour of envy, new shoots, nurturing

emeralds and malachite crystals

radiant and opaque, soothing, healing

as calming leaves of the forest

medicinal beyond our dreams.

Blue, an envelope, of outstretched indigo sky,

melancholy, a transient mood,

velvet blue and ancient Royal regalia,

laced with recalcitrant heathers.

Plummeting fathoms of aqua,

scented bluebells, bending, billowing

against a delicate and endless firmament;

blue on blue, peppered clouds.

The azurite heavens guiding eyes downwards

to deep oceans and pools alike,

as cobalt the Emperor of hues

transparent elixir gracing the canvas

Yellow, a corn field, rape seed,

a garland of daisies on flaxen hair.

Ochre leaves and vibrant lemons

hanging, ripening in a radiant light.

Golden sovereigns honour the brave

against the cowardice...or confusion, of retreat.

Chromium’s sharp contrast

to the softness of skin, a setting sun

giving life and fortitude to the Orient

instilling serenity and calm

in a willful world of dichotomy;

A challenge for a brave new world

Black, indomitable, invincible in darkness,

the ultimate shade of grey!

Inky sky and lashing squid, spurting

as spewing oil in a seam of coal,

eliciting etched black faces of the bond.

The masquerade, a ministerial cloak of

fearful images, deep and full, foreboding,

darkness of mind, as defining the stars.

Black, a paradox, a contradiction,

evoking dark depths, yet spiritual home

we delve and mediate between lives

consciousness and not

the metaphysical transcending steps,

inviting the brave to explore the darkness

restoring reason and light!

Copyright ARC 2020