She of the Rainbow

I dreamed of her in shades of grey

Mixed jet and pearl and slate and cream

Upon my canvass her to stay

My rainbow shade; my eye’s fair gleam

I dreamed of her in black and white

Mixed paint to stain false memory

And thought I painted all that’s bright

Not seeing my poor mimicry

I dreamed she was all framed but free

In lands not green and blue alive

Imprisoned there alone was she

In my dark head I thought she’d thrive

I dreamed in sunsets of her grace

In reds and yellows that did fade

And did not catch upon her face

That gift of glory there was laid

I dreamed in palettes overbright

But never finding the right tone

Violet, orange, pink weren’t right

They all became a monochrome

I painted dreams and nightmares too

To try and find her somewhere there

To mirror that one and only who

That did my bleary eyes ensnare

But when she walked across my way

And broke the image in my view

I saw that all my shades of grey

Were not the rainbow’s truest hues

She lived more vivid than my dream

And glittered far against my clouds

And all I brushed to me did seem

Deluding ashen shadowed shrouds

Reality is where I’ll go

To see and draw just what I know

I will not try to bring down low

The hues above in the rainbow