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Unbearable Beauty In Crimson

There’s unbearable beauty in crimson…

There are many crimson colored things in this world. How about blades of leaflets during Autumn or the beauty of a McIntosh apple? The most unbearable beauty I know is the color of crimson that poured from your lilies. When you were alive they flourished in your garden by your gazebo. Every year bulbs were planted and nourished by your tender loving hands. Fresh-cut flowers bring the most soothing scent into a home. Now that you are gone, no one is there to tend to them, and they have withered and decayed into the heated summer breeze.

shades of crimson lives
deep inside your memory-
your Tiger Lily

There are many shades of crimson colored things in this world. How about the beginning of a rainbow or the Merlot wine you used to drink? But the most unbearable beauty I know is the crimson colored lipstick you used to wear. To me lipstick represents the want to look beautiful and feel like a true woman. But to you, wearing lipstick meant you were trying to hide the effects of your chemotherapy and radiation treatments. It took a toll physically on your body, especially your face. Your need to cover up your dry cracked lips was necessary in your head. I still have that Revlon lipstick tucked gently away in my purse and I carry it wherever I go.

crimson colored lips
trying to hide your disease-
beauty comes within

There are many crimson colored things in this world. How about the cupid’s arrow on Valentine’s Day or the sweet little lady bug that crawls up your arm in the summer? The most unbearable beauty I know is the deep shades of crimson we carry in our blood. The blood that pumped through your veins, also pumps through mine. I know giving birth to me wasn’t easy but you were strong back then. Maybe too strong making it that much harder for you to try to survive lymphoma. The blood surrounding your marrow was full of disease and your ailment became your enemy. Blood is supposed to keep us alive, but the blood flowing through your lymph nodes took you away from me.

mother and daughter
sharing the same ancestry-
your crimson cancer

Unbearable Beauty In Crimson
Frank Hererra
October 21, 2016

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