"The world to me was black and white"
my mother had once said.
I figured she'd meant racism
'cause in class we had read

that the world was far from unified,
and Martin Luther King had died--
a symbol of the stubbornness
of people who were called racists.

"When I turned your age, life had changed.
We moved to a very different place
where cows had roamed as a skyline
of large skyscrapers filled the sky.

The world became a colorful place.
My mind had changed
my eyes learned grace.

"What's this have to do with color?"
I asked
"Did the cows and lights have their own pallete?
Did you get glasses that showed you new things?
What'd you notice that caused this change?"

My curious mind began to wander.
What did she mean? What did she alter?
Maybe it was simply her taste in art.
Maybe it was a change of heart.

As I progress through life's stages,
I realize the meaning of what she said.
After all these years, I enhanced my eyes,
and now I see a colorful life.