poem // shades

I wrote this a long time ago, over a year ago.  But sometimes words are more powerful the second time through, and this one hit me hard today.

Shades

I can feel the colors of emotions that I’ve never felt

-

Not only happy smiles, because rainbows can’t come without a storm...

But sad smiles that are full of colors I can’t see.

Behind the rainbows -  upside down smiles, still bright in the light of the sun,

An invisible canvas of shades that can’t be described.

But the heart can feel beyond the rays unknown

that shine through sun and rain, though none can know another.

It feels, as if they were its own, the heartache and regret,

the storm-clouds and floods yet unexpressed.

I feel the silences in the deepest hidden shades

that are richer than the whole display.

They say a thousand words and then some

The most important words I cannot say.

-

-

I stand by a rainbow that arches high

but always comes back down,

flickering in shadows cast by the sun,

and I understand -

the small smile full of colors I can feel

when I stop to hear a while.