A Poem on the Website of
the Red Dirt Writers Society


When Once There Were Rainbows
by D. J. Russell (Sep 2009)


When I was a child
Each and every day
Was a rainbow –
Every texture and sound
Painted my dreams
In primary colors.

As I ran, laughing and stumbling
Into the ‘tween place,
I shed the innocent skin
Of my childhood
And began bearing the burdens
Of broken trust and
Began counting the cost
Of my failures and success.
The colors began to fade.

The scrawny girl in pig-tails
Who I once teased and tormented
Now made my heart stir as never before.
We tried to find a world of our own
Where sense could be made
And love found.
But each and every pure and innocent kiss
Was tinged opaquely
With lust and desire.

When once my father’s hand
Had gently stroked my cheek,
It now left my lips bloody and
My illusions in pieces.
My mother’s arms were always
There to comfort me,
But she could not give me the
Answers I needed because
I was still too young to understand
The questions.

So,
There I stood,
A man whose world
Was bereft of beauty
And vibrancy.
When I found love,
I refused to believe it,
Turning my back and shutting
My eyes.
All I could see around me
Were the shards of broken rainbows.

And then there was you --
With the tenderness which
Once had been such a comfort
To me,
With the patience that
Allowed me to begin my healing,
And the brutal stubbornness needed
To hold your ground
When I tried so hard to push you away.

You gave me love.
You gave me hope.
You gave me wonder.
You gave me rainbows.


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