What is the colour of death?
Is it black like we tend to assume;
Like the demon that grabs us in the dark of the night
Or our life's recurring doom.
Could it be a deep auburn?
Like the hues of a departing sun,
Or one of the many shades of grey,
Vague and understood by none.
Is it blue to symbolise the aching
For the one that left too soon,
Or could it be a bright, fresh green?
To represent the life anew.
It might be a shade of purple,
Mysterious and magical to all
Or a shade of brown; hickory or chestnut
Like the dead leaves in the fall.
There might not be a single answer
For what the colour of death might be,
But if death is as peaceful as freeing as it seems,
White feels perfect to me.
art: jahnavi verma
[from 'which colour do you see in death?', an experiment conducted for Push up Daisies, June 28th 2020.]