Poem for Lori
Laurel Brett
Tell me if you can
the color of the sky
above my cell.
Does the air fade
to purple above the mountains
darkened by the tears of clouds?
Is the atmosphere
lit blue by the joyful shouts
of children I may never see?
Are the clouds
still white, the fleece
of hopes that float away?
Do rainbows tint
the mists of time
where a future still exists?
Do grasses smile green above a plain?
and rivers flow
and oceans rage
and stars illuminate the night?
Does the sun still glow?
Does the dawn rise rosy-red,
the sunset pink,
the dusk an inky indigo?
Do birds still bejewel the morning
pouring notes that spill
against the velvet quiet?
Or is all now
dull gray airless silent