Painted Rainbows

They splattered her in paint,

marbled patterns of colour

dripping and mixing down her arms;

oozing and pooling at the nape of her neck;

leaking from the corners of her eyes.

They covered her eyelids in paint

until she saw only rainbows.

So every time she thought of purple,

blue,

white,

green,

black,

yellow,

red,

she wondered if she'd really thought of it at all,

or if the paint

congealing on her skin

was all she'd seen.