There are mornings
whose blues are unspeakable,
whose yellows are far too dandelion
to dilute under sun.
You should have died in November.
when loss spins a darker color wheel,
those reds rotting to brown.
I could paint longing siphoned to straw,
brightened with blood kissed from my fingers
caught on the skeletons of roses.
There is room for loss
even in blooming. I can mourn
you vineless, thornless,
open as the hole I tear in fabric
over my chest, where my heart was.
We are playing with color over at dVerse today, and I thought this fit well.
Susan Daniels Poetry 
Susan this was a very poignant and beautiful poem. Well done. >KB
Thank you, KB. Older, but tightened just a little bit.
Oh, Susan… I love this. Your last stanza especially speaks to me right now.
Thank you, Laurie. Glad you liked it.
Beautiful. Your words held me as I stumbled through verse after verse. An amazing write, I would say.
Oh, wow, thank you!
Exceptionally unique – the colors capture grief in deft and tortuous ways – there is a sense of crochet looping color with emotions into a mourning design.
Oh, Gay–love this comment.
Wow Susan ~ Indeed deep of colors from first to last line ~ Enjoyed this one ~
Thank you, Grace.
the yellows far too dandelion… love that..ugh… it’s tough to lose someone when the world around us is in full bloom… and all the colors seem wrong and too bright then…felt piece…
Claudia, thank you 🙂
I thought this seemed familiar. I haven’t read anything in any of the “professional” poetry mags that could beat this. Leo
Wow, Leo, thank you. you might have caught the earlier incarnation. I just tightened a few lines in this one.
Such a wonderful poem about loss, colours of grief, the hole where one’s heart used to be. Really beautiful and poignant.
Thank you, Sherry.
Yes, I know this. My dad died in the summer, his funeral was on a cloudless day and we all wore bright colours, which was fitting because he was an artist all of his life, but the world should have stopped and turned grey, just for that time. Keriah – yes, tearing your clothes where your heart once was… Powerful and well put.
Thank you, Freya. Yes, we want the world to stop and acknowledge our loss, but it will not.
My kid brother died at the height of spring … on an obscenely beautiful day. Somehow grief amplifies everything. Great meditation.
Thank you, Brendan. you got this–obscenely beautiful nails it.
resonates with me and my experience with grieving, very wonderful poem, strong. thanks for sharing
Thank you, Ray! That comment means a lot…
I remember this one…it still resonates
Thank you, JH! I just tightened it a little, and thought it fit the color prompt perfectly–the shades of grief, if you will. Thanks so much for commenting!
Your skill improves day by day. Just wondrous play with words and structure. It reminds me there are some trees out there still sporting some vivid yellow, something I’d never have seen in childhood, not in November.
That’s true, Nelle. We still have some color here, in what I used to see as the gray, skeletal month.
Poignant and Beautifully Expressed
This is wonderful. So much emotion & power in such a short piece. Perfect.
Thank you, Katie.
what a vivid close…the tearing open of your flesh over your heart….loss / mourning, it happens…it is part of life…part of the cycle…there is a place…but it can be so hard….
Brian, thank you. I wrote this originally after the tornado in the midwest that killed so many children at that elementary school. This was for them. I felt the only way to capture that grief (of the parents) was with the ancient ritual of tearing of the clothes from the Jewish mourning tradition. So glad you felt this.
Indeed, sometimes colours seem to garish to match our moods – a sensitive, delicate, mournful poem.
Thank you, Maria–and yes, that is so true!
A great capture of when mood does not fit our environment. I so often think of sunshine in this way, as I am much better suited to a slight drizzle, myself. ~peace, Jason
“you should have in November” that line is everything for me in this poem…
You already know how much I love this poem, Susan. It is beautiful and one I carry with me.
Thanks, Jeremy. Just tightened it a bit and reblogged, because it fit that dVerse color prompt so well. I am so glad you gave me the title 😉
This is stirring and painterly. Bravo!
Aw, thank you. The colors of grief.
Powerful write, very well crafted and heartbreakingly good.