COLOUR PAIN

Long after he is dead --
Evelyn Arthur  St. John Waugh --
I take down from the shelf
that book a library discarded,
When the Going Was Good,
flip through it for description,
find a river in South America
ruby-clear, wine-coloured
from the crimson timber.

I read that line once more:
ruby-clear, wine-coloured
from the crimson timber.
After a while I breathe again.
That's a beauty I ache to.
                          --Lindsley Rinard