Navjot Kaur Deol (she/her) // Contributor
Do you see it?
See what?
The tints, the shades, the tones-
Not anymore,
With my childhood, they have flown.
Where did they go?
They linger still, perhaps in whispers, In shadows, in a distant glow.
But where?
Reds bloom in roses, pulse in the blood, Or dance in Valentine’s embrace, Redheads flaunt their fiery strands, Yet the vibrance feels misplaced.
What about the others?
Yellows glimmer in sunlight’s grace,
In school buses bright,
And traffic lights that guide our race.
Blue… is it still there?
The sky holds it close, though clouds may gray,
Oceans cradle blue, vast and deep,
Yet it fades, slipping away.
Green must be everywhere, right? Hiding in frogs, in algae, in leaves- Yet, thanks to our hands,
These greens are becoming rare,
A fleeting moment, like a sigh on the breeze.
“My world is still colorful,” I hear my inner child say,
“Are you living in shades of gray?”
Yet here I stand, cloaked in routine, Only nature wears the colors bright,
While I’m draped in muted tones, In gray, black, and white; Beige whispers of dusk, Colors lost to the grind, I’ve left them behind.
Wearing colors feels like a risk,
A badge of playfulness, a sign of the free, But being an adult has stolen Nav’s hues, And glitters are for the young, perhaps, Not for me.