Colors of the Canyon

by Chris Paynter

 Written: July, 1997 at Grand Canyon National Park

Red:

Brown:

tainted with the red of the sunrise

that dawns upon it each day

is painted on the mighty fortress of nature.

Hazy is the horizon,

lost in the mist of distance

with only ghosts of the fortress to mark its blurry frontier.

Green:

A sparkling river of emeralds,

dynamically flowing in the undulating wind,

glitters in the sunlight

that dances over it like nymphs.

The branches sway to the music of the wind

with emerald leaves dancing with it.

The music of the wind blows upon the world

with a serenade of never-ending nocturnes

echoing throughout the earth.

White:

A caravel of billowing white

glides across a vast dome of ocean.

Sails as graceful as feathers

begin their infinite voyage

without a destination.

This is an ocean of timeless age

that spans a thousand horizons

with its unbroken symmetry.

Orange:

The Phoenix has prepared its pyre

and thrown itself into the flames

only to rise next morning.

The dying embers cast their final glow

on the blue, blue ribbons of sky.

The light, crippled with the sight of its doom

surrounds itself in a scarlet tomb

to die in the dirge of silence.

Blue:

Apparitions span the great dome

with a labyrinth of swirling mists.

The ocean of symmetry has died with the sun

and turned to a maze of rapids

fixed in a ghostly tableau.

Silhouettes of the fortress lie in ruins

for with the splendor of the Phoenix gone

they are ghosts of the palaces they were.

They are lost in the mist of the dark, dark blue.

The ocean is lost in the dark, dark blue.

All is lost in the dark, dark blue.

Published in the Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans, 1998 Edition