Colour Of Abuse — Summary

Black - The colour of your soul. BLUE - The colour of my skin after your rage. RED - The colour that stains me and drips from your finger tips. SILVER - The colour of the gun you held to my head and told me you wanted me dead. ORANGE - The colour of hell where you sold your soul. WHITE - The colour of the room they'd lock me in for hours. BROWN - The colour of your hands that ripped my life apart. CLEAR - The colour of all the tears I couldn't cry because you would think I'm weak.

Show the whole poemHide the poem

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

Each line of "Colour Of Abuse" pairs a colour with a piece of the speaker's suffering, and together they build a picture of violence at the hands of another person. Black stands for the abuser's soul, blue for bruised skin, red for blood, silver for a gun pressed to the speaker's head. Later colours point to confinement, with a white room where the speaker was locked away for hours, and to hands that "ripped my life apart."

The speaker's feelings move between anger, fear and exhaustion. The accusing "you" keeps the abuser close, almost in the reader's face. The last line is the quietest and the saddest: clear, the colour of tears the speaker couldn't cry because showing them would look like weakness. That detail suggests the abuse took away even the freedom to grieve.

The mood is bleak, raw and tense. The simple list form feels like someone naming the evidence one piece at a time.

Read also

More by DiaryAnnie

All poems
SadDiaryAnnie

Love Me Harder

When I told him to love me harder I didn't mean it literally Some girls get flowers, some get hickies Some even get babies
SadDiaryAnnie

I'm Such A Good Liar

I wish it was you I could smell in my hair and not him When I take off my clothes, I wish it was you with me and not him The fact is simply that I'm dying to hold you and not him When you speak to me now, I love only that, and not him
RomanticDiaryAnnie

Blue Boy

Hi, I'm Annie Blue Boy, that's what I call you in my head This is the seventh time we'll be riding the bus home together Yet again, my eyes will plead with you