Snow blackest before crocuses appear

Green leaves make way for red and gold

Cobalt nights yield periwinkle mornings

For Beauty is wasted without the other

Starkness gapes through broken windows

Burnt bricks purge violence

Children play amidst the urban rubble

Glass pebbles rain on hopscotch squares

Ugliness transforms own beauty

Eyes are jaded as they age

Or do we open them further

Sunlight to filter or blind

How can the world hold all its shame?

Wondrous beauty hold staggering injustice

Without growth life wilts mournfully

Droughts the mind and soul

Has the balance tipped?

My colors fading unattractive

Sorrowful death weeps for beauty

Splendor cries for release

Hold tight the blighted

Caress the telltale disease

Nature cures in balance, time

Embrace the bleakness around you