RED

You are my red—the sudden, striking light
That holds the cold at bay against the dark.
The quiet warmth of hands I know so well,
The blood that beats a measure through my vein.

But och, the self–same fire can turn to ash,
You are the anger where the great seas lash.
The rise of wrath, the tightening of the jaw,
A scarlet fury weeping in the night,
That knows no reason, and that heeds no law,
And turns the gentlest morning into blight.