The color isn’t simply red or orange or pink
but rather a blend of colors
not so strictly distinct from each other like quantized energies.
It’s a balmy blend, a smear, a mélange
of a diluted lithium flame and a rosy blush
of magnesium
a color that can only be caused by iron oxide
in the mineral of sodium chloride
sitting in perfect repose at the windowsill in the light
void of tawdriness but fraught with demure
and emitting a cozy, comely shine
– a soothing bulwark for any disconcerted mind.

It’s the product of a coalescence, a hybrid,
of the hard look of quartz
and the weakness of soap,
rigid enough in appearance to be named a rock
but with the same weakness of soap,
dissolving when exposed to liquid.

It’s just
a Himalayan rock salt
shamelessly glowing on the windowsill
risking its mystique but offering its light.