Red to Blue and Back Again

Poetry

She thought it was just a hint of depression,

the way sadness crept upon her like a spider

waiting to weave a web to entangle and entrap —

but then her mood became like a pendulum

swinging back and forth and back again

till it was a wonder how she could laugh and cry

all at once, the salty tears saturating her open mouth.

Happiness became a fleeting thing, like a stranger

waving hello before hurrying to disappear from view.

And her frustration with herself grew until she saw

red everywhere, permeating and blurring all the lines.

Only when she took a few deep breaths or hummed a tune

did the bliss of blue wash over her, like a wave meeting shore.

That was how life began to go — red to blue, blue to red —

until her mind could not take the shifts anymore.

Her vibrant reds crashed against the calming blues,

the colors bleeding as if it were a kind of war zone,

but she was the only combatant in this one-way battle.

Anyone might have plummeted from such a struggle —

some days she didn’t even think she would make it —

yet she came out the other end, her clothes splattered

with the wreckage of the red-blue-red-blue tussle,

and it was finally time to say, clearly, “I need help.”

Originally published at https://vocal.media.