Orange from Black

To Andi on Halloween

In the beginning
My world was orange with hope,
Full of clementine promise.

Thoughts sunny,
I delighted in dreams of blazing
The globe as an agent of change,
Bringing fare to the starving,
Strewing blossoms for the depressed.

But the crush of hours and
Minutes made my world vulnerable
To black numbers creeping in
Dispatched from those in whom good
Was long rotten from inactivity.

Their mounting instances of greed
Pounded and squeezed, churning my
Best intentions to marmalade--

Sweet, but sluggish.
I could not withstand the dark digits
That pierced my resolve and
Peeled back resistance to ravage
The sun-kissed fruit within.

A million onyx boots trod
My world to pulp, until the
Ground ran with the juice of dreams
And only a citrus tang in the air
Remained of what had been.

Or so I thought as I drifted
In black chaos of disillusionment
For months on end.

Then a light scored the gloom,
Illuminating a single slice of hope
Encasing a seed--small, but enough
To awaken the zest within to plant
Tangerine dreams once again.

In a black world
Sprouts an orange glow
Lighting up the darkness.