Colors Too Beautiful

The evening, like my heart,

     was only grey and damp

         knowing only restless pain

             in a soul without a camp.

I walked along the shoreline,

    wet-footed and alone...

         chilled down to my very core,

             right to my very bone.

When, suddenly, grey clouds parted

     and I stopped in the soft tide,

         overcome by loveliness

             in a soul I thought had died.

Heart-struck completely through

     at the glowing light that shone,

         in softnesses pink and peach

             that I had never known.

It was far too beautiful...

      oh, yes, far and away;

        I could not stand the pain of it

             and meant to leave, not stay.

 Too beautiful a thing

     for my aching heart to bear...

        tears were falling, one by one,

             till, unexpected, you were there.

You caught a salty teardrop

     though I never knew quite why,

        and held it on your fingertip

            up to the soft-hued sky

Where colors far too beautiful

     transformed its salted grey

          into something I could bear

            when you whispered that you'd stay.

Jo Anzalone Oct. 30, 2006

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