Colours

By Shreya Joshi

https://youtu.be/PJQi3LBbKAs

I remember at the age of two,

perched on your lap, which was my seat;

with a box of crayons lying in front of both of us,

to me, lessons you would teach.

One by one, you would pick a colour,

and hold it right before my eyes,

and while I was just discovering a world of wonder,

I would repeat after you and I would recite...

“The sea is blue, sometimes the sky too,

and this is green, the colour of trees...”

We would take each colour and fill in a sketchbook

colouring within the lines, for each outline on the sheet.

We’d colour the flowers pink,

we would leave the clouds white;

we’d fill in browns and maroons for bricks,

in the little cottage in the countryside.

Over the course of years,

I outgrew your lap,

but the colours you introduced me to when I was young –

and memories associated with it, in my mind are still stamped.

Sometimes out of habit,

I paint all my roses red.

The other times, just for art’s sake,

I use it to paint my muse’s eyebrows instead.

By Shreya Joshi