Duplicity

He left
one evening in February
And I woke to the strangest sight
Colours I’d known for 13 years
Had vanished into the night
Shades of grey
Were all that remained
Our home was coloured
In ‘overcast day’
Cold shock slipped down the back of my shirt
Shivers of grief
Wrapped tight round my worth
I blinked hard
Clearing the sleep from my eyes.
But dull ashy grey
Exposed colour as lies
Even the bright pink roses
I’d picked
Sat in a vase smelling foul
Looking sick
Lifeless shadows
Took the place of their colour
Was my mind in a glitch?
Could my sight be recovered?
“Optometrist check me!
I think I’ve gone blind!”
I peer through lenses
As he tests my eyes
He examines his x-rays
And writes the result
“20/20 VISION”
My heart roars revolt
“What?? But it’s grey??
Everything’s ashy!”
My forehead feels hot
My body starts shaking
“Help me to see!
I can’t bear going blind!”
His eyebrows crease
His head cocks to one side
“Strange child. Ash is the colour of life.”
I blink slowly.
“What?”
It’s too much for my mind
Reality fractures
The dirt of my heart
A chasm that separates
True
From his “art”
True
Is the ash and the fog on one side
His “art”
Is the memory of life as his bride
Slowly it dawns
In my trembling depths
He’d painted the truth
And the flowers as I slept
And when I’d awake
In the morning each day
A fresh new reality
Burst bright in my face
Painted by him
My best friend and lover
Who buried the truth
Under layers of colour
Til all that I knew
And saw with my eyes
Was the world he created
With fake pretty lies

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