via Daily Prompt: Yellow

Bright Colors
by Carl Josehart

bright colors
almost always are reserved
for the aged
or the insane
ostensibly
to help cheer their countenance

I suspect
it is more like those
orange flags that signal
danger
near construction sites
or on wide loads of
cargo
precariously balanced
on open air flat bed trucks
barreling down the highway
advising caution
keeping a safe distance
warning not to follow

her broad rimmed
straw hat
drawstring under chin
brightly colored hummingbird
caught in flight
pinned to the straw dome
atop her head
seemed to make her look
all the more strange as did
her long gray braid
falling behind her head
down her back

eerily silent
she sat beside me
at times too quiet
at times
agitated motion
with no discernible aim or
goal

asking
alternately
agitatedly
for a can of coke
a closed can of apple juice
not opened
two bags of peanuts
yet refused lunch

would not bring her chair
to the upright position
not seeming to understand
even when the stewardess
pushed the back of the chair
pointing urgently
at the button on the armrest

frustrated
the stewardess
gave up
this life
seemingly not worth saving
should the landing go awry

bright colors
almost always are reserved
for the aged or the
insane