What color is distance--
what color the distance between then
and now? Aqua, you say, like the water
beneath this less than riotous sky.
Cerulean, the calm in the hearts, beating, crimson,
inside us. You and I, staunch as indigo.
How far, my love, how deeply
we have fathomed those sapphire depths,
the gold of the sun coating the spruce
underneath
with light, a shimmering, honeyed subterfuge
for the darkness we have drawn away,
the undertows we braved, sable, onyx, obsidian,
the slate-gray whirlpools we drowned in and rose from
with only the unbreakable faith
in what cannot be seen.
Courage is ebony, rival to evening's shadows.
But tonight, we paint the sky coral--
crepe and peach, flamingo and rosewood.
Sea and sky intertwined, your hand and mine.
This promise, stubborn and resplendent
as that tuscan-tinged sunset, fawn
and tangerine fire, golden
and irrevocable--
its pewter cloak, moonlight.
December 30, 2017
Subic Bay
