Red, orange, and blue.
Those were the colors
I saw the world in.

Red for the anger
I’d paint with
when I saw you.

Orange for the fear
I breathed in
when you looked at me.

Blue for the misery
I drowned in
when I finally cried.

Then one day
I stopped
seeing those colors.

It was the day
you sat by me.
Anger, fear, misery.

I felt it
all at once
then not at all.

You were made
of more
than three colors.

And I realized
I didn’t have to be
either