“Lily, tell me What colour is it I’m seeing? Or is it something beyond sight?
Oh, tell me, Lily…”
“Dear Sev, you know what it is…”
“But I want you to be the one To tell me again…
Oh, it’s beautiful, Lils…”
“Silly, silly…like a little boy…”
“Oh, please tell me Tell me forever So this veinless heart
Keeps beating…”
“Alright, I’ll try and paint it –
You know when the trees sang?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the colour of their song.
You know when the stars were born?”
“Yes.”
“It’s the colour of their birth.
And when the four winds spoke?”
“Yes.”
“That is the colour of their tidings.
It is snow upon the sun
And wine upon the tongue
And the sting of flowers grown in the bracken
And the breath of thirsting souls.”
“It burns me, Lily… Like the ink of books once burned me But I want it always to burn Burn on, burn on in me Like the colour of your eyes once did…
Oh, Lily, how can we see without eyes?”
“Our truest eyes are deeper set,
And they open fully when we awake from sleep.”
“Yes, sleep… I feel that everything has paled Next to the brilliance that is here… Oh, is it not the colour of fire,
And will it not swallow us up?”
“Are you afraid, Severus?”
“No, no…I want it to touch me… To consume me, even…
Oh, what is this desire?”
“They say that Hell is made of fire
But that is not so
For separation knows no warmth
The only fire that ever breathed
With colour, as you see it here,
Was made of Love.”
“Then that is the true nature
Of the colour that is calling me?”
“Yes, my dear one, yes…
The flames stoke the embers
Of the Heart.”
“Is it like rebirth?”
“Yes, as if all the world had died
And fractured into starlight
That sings a newborn song.”
“It is as if everything has stopped, Frozen in fire… Only to melt and run like a brook That laughs for the first time.
Oh, Lily, I love your laugh…”
“Oh, Sevy…back to me again?”
“Yes. Always.”
“After all this time?”
“Has not time perished With the ocean foam And burned away Like mortal breath Or run itself out
Like mortal blood?”
“Oh, blood…oh, Severus…
I wept for you when you died…”
“And I for you, when you died.”
“I know. I felt it.”
“Perhaps the colour is also That of blood, That of tears,
Shed for love?”
“And the touch of one to another…
That touches the soul.”
“Your boy…he touched me like that When my lungs were failing… I felt like a fool For I had judged him sorely wrong But he did not hurt me… Not like all the others, No, no… He held me when I cried And forgave me when I died. He is your son, Lily… He has your eyes
On the surface, and deeper set.”
“He called on me to come for you…”
“He did?”
“Yes…
But I was already there.”
“You were?”
“Yes…
Did you not always know I would be?”
“I hoped, but…
I was dirty, Lily, and it was dark…”
“Oh, Sev, such a little boy…
Did that ever stop me before?”
“No, but…
You went away…”
“Yes, I went away…
But did you think I was truly away, all this time?”
“…No. You were the only melody I could hear In the Silence. But I…hurt you…
Lily, I…hurt everyone…”
“But I see you…
Oh, Sev, I always see you
Always now
And no matter how you were shadowed,
You were never altogether lost
For no mortal being
May see this fire
That loses himself to anything
But Love.”
“Lily?”
“Yes?”
“Is there such a thing as touch here? The last time I held nothing but a shell… Though I knew you were there, somewhere…
Yet I feel you now, oh, close, close-knit…”
“Nothing good is lost here
No sense taken away, only transfigured.”
“What in us is holding on to the other? Is it a knot looped ‘round like a dance? Is it like the breath that failed me? Because…it wounds me…
But I keep wanting it…to wound me…”
“No, it is not the breath which failed you…
It is the one that is never snuffed out,
And it wounds only to heal.”
“I am holding you, and you holding me…
We are alone, yet not alone…”
“No, never alone.”
“The colour I see…does it bring us full circle?”
“Yes, it is the Circle
With no beginning, and never ending.”
“Lily?”
“Yes?”
“Is it the colour of our love?”
“Ours, and all others like it…
They all flow together, like a river…
Like a rainbow.”
“Will we always be here?
Oh, Lily tell me…”
“Oh, Sevy…dear Sevy…
The wars are over
This is Always.”
