The Blues - a poem first written as a Facebook post on a late February afternoon

The blue sky too
Soon may be credited
As one of humanity's
Greatest handiworks it seems
First as an observable fact
Only lately becoming an
Internet meme

Once upon a time
The Business Insider reports
We humans could barely
Speak of light at the blue end
Of the spectrum
Like water and sky
It appeared mostly
Part of the muddle
Never standing out
As a pigment in itself
That is until civilization
Had advanced far enough
To perfect the art
Of indigo capture

Whereas especially around
This time of year
Blue becomes its own ubiquity
It's there lingering amidst
The snowfield of shadows
Stretching across the front yard
Overpowering even earthy
Browns and greens in our
Entire way of seeing things
Capturing both the sea
And the sky before
Our admiring gaze
As we all become so
Many little Picasso's
Going through our
Very own blue phase

So much so that now we
Can't imagine the world's hue
Being otherwise as the blues
Have overtaken all other shades
Serving as best expression
Of our true life experience
As well capturing our vision
Of eternity too


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This poem was written in response to a news item I came across this afternoon on Business Insider by Kevin Loria.  It was one of the more interesting articles I've read in quite a long time - about how human perception of the color blue seems to be in large part culturally derived and not just biologically determined.  The article is well worth reading if you haven't done so already; it's also quite timely as it arrives on the heels of the latest Internet meme about the blue and black dress.  Click here to read more.