purple and broken — Summary

purple bruises and broken teeth must I repeat not blue nor green but purple indeed must I explain not healed nor fixed but broken for sure,

not to show and to tell but to feel and to scream, to see but not to touch,

you see, touch is what brought them sight is what lost them

purple bruises and broken teeth I will not repeat. not blue nor green but purple indeed I can not explain to never be healed nor fixed that's for certain,

I cannot show And i cannot tell I have felt and I have fought the touch will never leave and sights will forever stay.

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The speaker is describing damage that can't be undone, and insisting on it. Bruises and broken teeth suggest physical harm, though the poem never says who caused it or what happened. The repeated phrases "not blue nor green but purple" and "not healed nor fixed but broken" read like someone correcting a listener who keeps softening the truth. Purple is the colour of a fresh, deep bruise, not one that is fading.

The shift between the two halves is the heart of the poem. At first the speaker asks, "must I repeat, must I explain," sounding tired and defensive. By the end it becomes "I will not repeat" and "I can not explain," a flat refusal. The line about touch and sight suggests that touch caused the harm and sight lost something, though the poem leaves the details open.

The mood is raw and weary, with anger underneath. The final line settles on something heavy: the touch will never leave, and the sights will stay forever.

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