How Red Is Read.

Red river running; ever moving, never resting;
red leaves like lives or loves that run away with you;
gingerbread sandstone that looks everlasting;
sunset’s red drumbeat, bursting from the blue.

Red bosomed robins building nests in prickly hedgerows;
red thorns like a bad omen in your abdomen;
lipstick; cherry blossoms; the blooming red rose;
Autumn’s red bristled bessom broom again.

Each shade of red is read in a hundred different ways;
blushing brides, scarlet women; scarlet fever, rude health;
red is both birth and death, viewed with hatred and with praise;
red, to me, is rubies, foxes, pillar boxes; life’s wealth.