☀️ The Daily Boost #884

Paint us true. Paint us as we are.

The Daily Boost (published weekdays) is one of the newsletters of The Raft, the online community of author Phyllis Cole-Dai. We Rafters ride the river of life buoyed by music, poetry, and other arts, along with open spiritual practice. Most everything here is free, but patrons (paid subscribers) get some special perks as a gesture of gratitude.

Enjoy this musical setting of Gerald Rich’s poem, presented below.

A PALETTE TO PAINT US AS WE ARE
Gerald Rich

Give us a palette to paint us as we are.
Enough of black and white, yellow and red,
Those false colors that sham at fact.

Coffee, and chocolate, and café au lait,
Ivoried saffron, and saffroned ivory,
Bronze, and brass, copper, and rose gold,
Tea and pale butter, golden almond,
Infinite varieties of browns and tans,
Pale rose, pink and soft rose cream,
Mahogany, oak, cedar, and champagne.

These are the colors of people I see,
Not black and white, not yellow and red.
Those false colors no longer will do.
Give us a palette to paint us true.

(My thanks to poet Gerald Rich, composer Elizabeth Alexander, and One Voice Mixed Chorus.)

The Gentle Nudge

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