When Colour Fades

When colour fades,

When darkness surrounds,

All is nothing,

All is sad.

When hope wanes,

When triumph distances,

All is empty,

All is gone.

The endless tunnel closes in,

Light shrinks into a speck of dust,

Trapped, bound, defeated.

The muffled screams of mercy, 

The frail cries of surrender,

All is meaningless.

She gasps for air,

fighting to hold onto the tiniest life left in her.

She hums,

to pass the time by.

Perhaps, it is the hour.

She closes her eyes, 

She leans her head against the solid wall.

Tears roll down her cheeks. 

Her heart twists in knots.

She lets go of her grasp for life.

She relaxes her body.

This must be the passing. 

Butterflies sparkle and twinkle behind her eyelids.

A foreign land of fantasy,

A world where dreams come true,

There they were, 

There they are.

The fragrance of hope clothes her,

The aroma of peace kisses her.

Light floods in from the tunnel's end.

This is not a dream,

This is the reality.

What she sees is no illusion.

There are green fields,

There is blue sky.

Her body floats as if someone carried her.

Her feet touch the grass,

Refreshing chills climb up her spine. 

Freedom.

Her spirit can dance,

Her soul can sing.

At last, it is within her grasp.

It is not a dream. 

It is not a fantasy.

When colour fades,

When light dims,

It is when the show starts,

It is the new beginning.

When the curtains fall,

When the music stops,

All is well,

For the new chapter is about to open.

                                                                                -- Lisa T. Kuo

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In life, we often see the problems and struggles before us that we no longer see the 'bright future' that people talked about so much. We are left in the state of limbo, of existing yet not existing. I hope this poem serves as an encouragement, to remind us to look ahead and not be held behind by our thoughts or our circumstances. There is hope - we just have to learn and choose to look towards it.