Of Many Colours
I wore blue today.
Royal Blue
That is how I feel when I step out under the winter sky
Bluebells on the hedges, blue bougainvilleas with their
fluttering dry paper leaves
Ice cold blue with blue bangles
You had better keep your distance from me
So they don’t offend you, my blue veins that stand out
Getting up in the morning, taking my bath at dawn
Washing those left over dishes
And drying those cold clothes
I wore blue today
Is pink my colour?
It gives the colour to my cheeks
When my husband brings me a gift
But more often when my in laws point out my mistakes
I can hide under my pink lips, bangles and ribbons
The blushes turn to anger soon
Again that is pink and can be kept under wraps
Like my pink dupatta which hid my embarrassment
From the repulsive maulings
Of a revered teacher or a co-passenger or a kin
So I wear a brighter pink
To hide behind my anger, desire, pleasure and... sometimes loathing
The warm feel of the soft grass
The distant trees forming the skyline of a deserted road
The verdant reflection in the nearby pool
The creepers on the wall reaching out to the sun on the roof
Their tender tendrils seeking a toehold
Warm, new, ever growing
Soaking up the dust mites, carbon
Green is my colour
Born in the tussle between Mother Earth and Sun and its
siblings
Green won in tentative steps
Over a billions of years
So how can I wreck it in a few planned moves of destruction
over a hundred years?
Bright and Sunny yellow
Nothing keeps it down
Flitting from flowers to flowers on the wings of a butterfly
Or gracing the newly weds in the woven marigold
Cheery and Chirpy but always graceful
Yellow knows
Life is a myth
Nothing lasts and nothing is
yours
Like the yellow sun bleaches all
it falls on
Time washes away all memories
Except perhaps the fabricated
ones, all man made
Yellow is my colour: which holds an eternity in every moment
This poem is inspired by the bright colourful sarees worn by Indian women and relates them to her various moods. I would appreciate your comments and suggestions.
