The Red Whose Father Is The Knife (John Berger)
At first reading I thought you were on speed
Or that you had taken one too many
Of your painkilling drugs
But then I let your words slow me down
I discovered a new wavelength
I saw, and felt, your continuum
From white, to red, to black
Exactly as it is in life John
From birth, to being, to death
Best of all though, you took me back
Back to my childhood bedroom, where
Model aeroplanes hung from the starry ceiling
My father used to sit on my bed to tell me
The names of all of the colours in the world
He was the first to give me Cadmium Red
He spoke of red being an emotional colour
Indeed the highest of the high emotions
Coming along, at the beginning, and end of life
