She is twenty years old
She doesn’t have a favorite color anymore
She wears a blue hospital gown
And lays brain dead in her blue bed
Staring at the blue ceiling
Because that is all that she can do
She was nineteen years old
Her favorite color was white
She wore a white sweatshirt
And sat on her white college dorm room carpet
Taking forty white antidepressants
Until all she saw was white
She was seventeen years old
Her favorite color was red
She wore red pajama pants
And sat on the red bathroom rug
Cutting with a red screwdriver
Watching the red blood flow
She was fourteen years old
Her favorite color was black
She wore a black mesh shirt
And sat on her black carpet
Painting her black nails
Staring at the black night sky
She was ten years old
Her favorite color was yellow
She wore a yellow bathing suit
And sat on a yellow towel
Tanning in the yellow sun
Watching yellow butterflies go by
She was five years old
Her favorite color was green
She wore a green summer dress
And laid on the dewy green grass
Looking for green inch worms
Hanging from the green leaves
She was just born
She didn’t have a favorite color yet
She was wrapped in a pink blanket
And laid in the pink hospital crib
Sucking on her pink thumb
Dreaming of a beautiful life
--Kelly Sclafani