Colors

Published May 16, 2017

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Author

P.K. Saha

I

In the fall, the old maple in my backyard

went from green and yellow to deep red.

The red was there all along,

waiting to be revealed

as the green vanished.

II

When Newton coined the word spectrum,

he based it on spectre: a ghost

of seven colors that appears

when white light breaks up.

As the sun sets,

the ghost scatters,

leaving only red on the horizon.

III

The first eye sprouted

on a swimmer in the primordial sea

some five hundred million years ago,

and right away it was drawn to its prey,

creatures flashing red.

Affiliated Institution

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Corresponding Author

[email protected]

DOI

10.20411/pai.v2i2.182

About the Author

P.K. Saha taught English and Linguistics at Case Western Reserve University from 1966 until he retired in 1994. He is the author of over 200 items (poems, short stories, articles, books) published from Australia, England, India, Pakistan, and the United States. He lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio, with his wife Ginger.