Blue
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
‘But gang she east, or gang she west” ~ Robert Burns; “The Blue-eyed Lassie” as published in The Analectic Magazine September 1813
This sonnet written on Robert Burns Day, 2024
The reason that the pure sky arches blue
Is that the dome is like a tulip part,
A petal made to be like God’s own hue,
A canopy deserving of a heart
As innocent as Christ upon his cross
Or laid in herbs inside his perfect rest.
The reason that the pure sky has that gloss
Before the sun begins to tinge the west
With pink and orange sweeter than the womb
Of Mary with the Holy Spirit sent
Inside it long before Christ found his tomb
Is that this blue has never known dissent.
The eye is drawn toward that colour, pure
And utter, since it is the soul of cure.
~ Phillip Whidden