The color of a fiercely beating heart

The hue you grew when you first heard “I do”

The fire that rages, deep within my art.

It can combat its calmer brother, blue.

It is the color that provides us life

and yet it's that which signifies our death.

A cross that seeks to stop sickness and strife

A wounded warrior's gasped final breath

The budding tenderness of Valentines

The crimson radiance of setting suns

The flaming hope which in the darkness shines

The color of one's nipples when one runs.

And yet, all of the many things I've said

can be conveyed with just the color red.