The Other Side of Gray

“Gray is the color of Hope.” -Irina Ratushinskaya

 
Ashes from an explosive fire
Discarded, tattered newspapers, left to rot in the streets
Neglected pavement crumbling underneath your feet
Storm clouds threatening to pour upon your head

This is gray, the image of sorrow, the picture of grief.

Gray is the color of murky waters, the unknown,
the realm where nothing is quite defined.

However, like everything examined clearly,
Gray defies expectation
and unveils another side.

Gray is a mixture of black and white.
The first color one sees,
after having hit rock bottom.

Gray is the color of
shackles being removed from a prisoner.

Gray is the color of
having your basic need meets
after losing everything in a catastrophe.

Gray is the color
of an alcoholic choosing to step away from the drink
for yet another day.

Gray is the color of today, a color of the present,
but it is a yearning for tomorrow, for what can be and what will be.

Gray truly is
the color of Hope.

Poured Out

Massive, majestic, monastery bells

pealed out over the hills and the valleys.

 

Caught unaware,

my heart beat rapidly

while my eardrums

threatened to explode.

 

My world froze in place

and I caught something of the Divine.

 

I could see

my bottled prayers,

my jars of salt tears

smash violently upon the earth.

 

Turning into smoke,

they rose upon the clouds

into Heaven.

They arose as incense,

billowing out the perfume

of a desperate soul.