PALETTE OF THE UNIVERSE<\/p>\n
“The universe is really beige. Get used to it.”<\/em> For Richard<\/p>\n 1. 2. –Lucille Lang Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PALETTE OF THE UNIVERSE “The universe is really beige. Get used to it.” John Noble Wilford The New York Times For Richard 1. The universe is beige, they say, the color of a mule deer running by the chickweed blooming … Continue reading
\nJohn Noble Wilford
\nThe New York Times<\/p>\n
\nThe universe is beige, they say,
\nthe color of a mule deer
\nrunning by the chickweed
\nblooming whitely on the bluff,
\nbut knowing you wait
\naround the next bend of the trail,
\nI see checker-bloom with five
\npink petals, ivory-veined,
\nsurrounding a bluish-purple
\nlupine stalk, whose keel
\npetals cut the salt-laced breeze.
\nButtercups\u2014tiny suns
\nstrewn across an open field\u2014
\nwink like the points of light
\ndotting the sea that pounds
\nthe beach below this headland
\nwhere I crouch to examine
\nbright red spikes and bracts
\nof Indian paintbrush, thinking
\nof your kiss, and this
\nuniverse of galaxies blending
\nto tan, drab as my old Mac,
\nreveals its true tints.<\/p>\n
\nLying in light, reading
\non the living room sofa
\non Sunday morning, listening
\nto John Sheppard’s sacred chants
\nfor six voices, I hear cinnabar,
\nolive, raw umber, magenta,
\nviolet and chartreuse
\nmingling in counterpoint.
\nLater in our omelette
\nwith bell pepper and feta
\nI can surely taste pearl,
\nParis yellow, moss green,
\nand when you hold me, I feel
\na surge of indigo, amethyst
\nand tangerine. Suddenly
\nstippled, mottled, streaked,
\nI don’t care if the universe
\nis the color of buckwheat
\nbecause iridescence spills
\nfrom you and me.<\/p>\n