How Colours Change

I stepped out of the vault
That was the metro station
A cold blast of air hit me
As a rush-hour train raced by

I saw ruddy faces squeezed against
The window panes
Knuckles white from holding onto
The rails above
Bodies swaddled like mummies
In dark winter coats, scarves and gloves

As I ran up the stairs
Two at a time
I stopped in my tracks
Taken aback
By scarlet red drops of blood
Trailing the right side of the passage

I thought of Hansel and Gretel
And their breadcrumb-strewn woods
And the soft white snow flakes
That had fallen that morning

There was a beauty
In the purity
Of the red and white
Before they turned into magenta
And sludge