If I were going to describe the world
To someone who couldn’t see

I would tell him
Blue is the color of water rushing through the cracks between your fingers

One drop at a time

Orange looks like size two boots sloshing in rain puddles after a long night’s rain

I would say:
‘Yellow looks like the rays of sun
That darken your skin after a long day outside’

When he asks what white is
I would tell him to go in search of the tallest mountain he could find
Climb it
Stand on the highest peak
And breathe in deep
Fill your diaphragm with the snow-chilled air
That is white.

If he asks what green is
I will walk with him arm in arm
Through the forest
Where we hear the birds chirping
And rivers flowing- blue

Then I will take him to Wall Street
Where the smell of money
greed
lingers in the air
I will leave him to walk alone
Where he will hear men screaming
And money flowing- green

When I find him again
He will be different
He has seen the world in colors

Then he will ask me
What gray looks like
I will take him to a graveyard
To run his fingers over the tombstones
As his fingers trace the etched letters
He will ask
‘Is this what sadness looks like?’

I will not answer.
Instead, I will pick a flower from the grave
And hold it beneath his nose as his inhales

When a tear drips from his eye
I will wipe the drop from his cheek

‘Is this what friendship looks like?’
I would take him to the grade school park
And climb the tree with him
Then read him the letters carved in the tree
‘B P = BFF’

‘Is this love?’
He will ask
I don’t answer
I just brush the hair from his forehead
And lift his chin

Yes
I answer