I dream in black and white

My thoughts are concrete, I can't think for myself

I am blind; I let others see for me

I am mute; I let others speak for me

I am empty, I am a hollow shell.

When I began wearing clothes I never would wear, red drained from my dreams.

I saw every color but red

I didn't really notice until I started following everyone else around,

Doing what they wanted to do, going where they wanted to go.

When that happened, the blue disappeared.

When I started pushing aside my own thoughts

And began adopting theirs, I no longer saw purple and green.

And then, the yellow and orange withered away

When I began saying things I wouldn't normally say,

When I stopped telling my jokes and making the funny noises I used to make.

When I realized I wasn't, I realized the color left my dreams.

That was when I dreamed in black and white.

I didn't like my dreams and I didn't like who I was.

That's when I decided to change.

When I wore the clothes I liked, the red reappeared in my dreams.

When I braided my hair like I once did,

The red of the wine I drank in my dreams returned. I bled red again.

In my dreams, the roses I saw were red and the women wore red lipstick.

After I stopped following others around, the blue returned.

When I went to the places I wanted to go, even if I went alone

The blue sky returned to my dreams. Eventually, I saw the Caribbean waters.

At once, I took back my thoughts and my opinions.

When I did, the colors purple and green came back to my dreams.

I ate grapes in my dreams that looked like grapes.

I picked violets in fields in bright green meadows

Next, I started speaking freely.

If no one else liked what I had to say, I didn't care.

When this happened, I saw bright yellow and orange sunsets in my dreams.

I played with a yellow canary one night.

Another night, I tasted the sweetest orange marmalade.

Then I started playing the games, watching the movies,

And doing the silly things I once liked to do.

After this, the rainbows returned to my dreams.