A Blessing in Beige
by Richard Michael Levine

To Lucy

Some stars burn brighter as they age
Like maple leaves and apple trees flaming up from green.
Alas, the color of the universe is beige,

Not peach or pearl or the palest shade of sage,
Not turquoise, as they once thought–so serene.
Some stars burn brighter as they age.

The love that we have is harder to gauge
But it, too, burns brighter the later it seems.
Does it matter so much if the universe is beige?

As a poet breathes sound onto a silent page
Your love bathes my days in aquamarine.
Some stars burn brighter as they age.

Let them light up our lives as we leave this stage
And fill our hearts with their triumphant sheen.
Who cares if the color of the universe is beige?

A bird in flight outshines its silver cage.
If the sky’s too bright the stars shine unseen.
May our stars burn brighter as we age.
Hurray, the color of the universe is beige!


First published in Blue Unicorn



 

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