She could only see in black and white
sunsets mimicking sunrises.
He always kept his head held down
sidewalks running into colorless grass
following beside sidewalks edge.

Never did they see what was to come.
her head in the clouds
his eyes pointed at his feet.
COLLISION!

"Excuse me", she said looking down.
"My apologies", he spoke looking up.
Her brown eyes met with his hazel eyes
locked in stair,
silent,
childlike,
frozen.

How many minutes passed
neither of them knew
spoken from his inner thoughts,
he spat out, "who are you?"
Black and white went grey then green,
colors everywhere suddenly it seemed
this world had left them empty and grey
but black and white disappeared that day.

Years passing on
season's came and went
they did it all accordingly.
Planted flowers, racked leaves
grew a family, made memories.
.
What happened next,
they never saw it coming
she started to drift back into black,
she fell back ,
way back,
it was dark back in those clouds.

Relentlessly he attempted
to bring her back down
but he couldn't,
so he wouldn't,
look up anymore.

The flowers wilted
leaves clogged the gutters
their children reached in
every direction
trying to recapture the memories
but they couldn't
so they wouldn't
look for them anymore.

Reals in black and white
flickering off and on
like movies from the olden days
replay in all their heads
from different rooms
inside different houses.

Jennifer D. English