Monochrome Rainbows

Before there was color photography
it was sepia sorrow and black-and-white laughs
that filled up our grayscale memory
with old-fashioned love caught in old photographs.
We kissed under rainbows in monochrome,
the girls in white dresses, the boys in black ties,
and romped at the edge of the ocean’s foam
in silver emulsions unsullied by dyes.
Advances in photo-development
brought color to images once black-and-white.
We’re captured in full-color merriment
and flatter ourselves on our trueness of sight,
the brilliance of love in a gaudy bouquet—
but love was as strong back when roses were gray.