the deepening ground

Finally! Of all the color poems I’ve written for this series, violet was the most challenging. Admittedly, part of the issue was simply a matter of time. As I’m sure you’ve realized, there never seems to be enough of it! If only Jim Croce could have put time in a bottle…

Writer’s block, or that pesky hobgoblin – the internal critic, was the larger issue. Where do I go with violet? I know the color’s symbolic weight or the simple beauty of the flower, but both of those options felt like unbaited hooks. Nothing’s biting. So what do I do with violet?

That led to the thought, violet is the last color of the rainbow. A rainbow starts with red and ends in violet, as does this poem series. So the end is violet. I got a bite! From there it was simply a matter of imagining and refuting the many proposed ends. The first stanza came quickly, revisiting the previous six colors of the rainbow. The second stanza only came together today. Violet is the end, and that is my greatest hope and joy!

The End is Violet

Vincent H. Anastasi - 2021

The end is violet.
Not an expunging turbulent cerulean flood
nor an apocalyptic conflagration
of ashen extinction,
no rotting gangrene
devouring yellowed flesh
nor ever-expanding dark
swallowing light,
enslaving all in indigo chains.
This is not the end.

Rather, royalty-robed,
the end culminates in a wedding feast
encircling an eternal throne,
color confounding gloom
and restoring surrendered hope
wrapped about blood-stained beams.
On rolling hills of lavender
where purple hearts find awaited rest,
death yields resurrection:
Violet is the end.

Check out this beautiful song by Gungor to see how my soul responds musically to the theme of this poem!