Introvert in Red

there is a snort wrapped in your chortle

devaluing scoff of disbelief

prickling through trappings of merriment

find humor at my blush-ed expense

 

you heave invalidating skepticism

splashes of frigid indigo

ice my vulnerable disclosure

impromptu orchid proffering

 

you have colored me strident scarlet

as I retreat not from weighty debate

and stand toe to toe with any challenge

in my hollow of hallowed ground

 

I carry off vermillion verisimilitude

in tones more assured than dulcet

take the measure of men of stature

shrink violet from no deliberation

 

my soul is lilting lavender

clad as a rubied warrior

wilts exhausted in social commerce

blooms fragrant is solitude’s sun

 

you vision me caricatured cerise

pushing envelopes and limits

while I crave the blessed relief

of a meadowed azure retreat