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The Color Orange

I was once asked by a friend to write something for a character I was portraying in a blog story. He wanted the character to try and describe the color orange without explaining what orange looks like. So here is what I wrote: ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Color Orange To describe orange without color, I can only breathe life into what orange is to me. Orange is... The glow of two smiling faces washed in the light of a midnight fireplace, talking about the promise of tomorrow. And too... It is in your sweetheart's worried lip, when she hopes you'll kiss her that first time, but is too timid to ask. Orange is... That look in another's eyes, a gaze shared across crowded spaces, that makes everything else fade away. It is... In the softness of a held hand, a gentle word of reassurance, and fondness of a like soul. Orange is... That moment when you realize, you're in love with someone... ardently so... and want the fleeting moments to last forever. and... it is in a shared dance when it doesn't matter if she's there in a gown or a burlap sack.... she'd still be the most beautiful creature in the room. Orange is... when you want to tell her everything you're feeling. but can't come by the words because though your eyes slip over her with ease..your thoughts catch snag... and you're drinking her in. But also.. on a less intimate and love infectious note It is the satisfaction of a setting sun, as the day slips away over golden fields of grain, the last shafts of sunlight picking up the specks of dust. Because orange is in those shining moments that happen every day. In every walk of life. In the end... Orange is familiarity. Orange is comfort... And it is warmth.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2019




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Date: 9/15/2019 12:07:00 AM
Orange is a feeling, a mood. It has no physical entity except as light spectra. It is a warm colour, like the kindredness of a like soul, as you wrote. Well put Jesse!
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Jesse Zerlaut
Date: 11/18/2019 10:06:00 AM
Thank you, John. I really appreciate your thought.
Date: 4/29/2019 2:05:00 PM
OMG, one of the most beautiful poems I’ve read. Jesse, you truly have a gift!It made me want to find every tube of every tint of orange watercolor paint that I own simply to paint a description that could barely measure up to the words you have canvassed here.
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Jesse Zerlaut
Date: 4/30/2019 7:52:00 AM
If you paint orange in water color and sent me a picture, I’d gladly add it to the top of my poem. Glad you like it.

Book: Reflection on the Important Things