©2004 Harvey H. Warwick III

Said a man to one he knew,
“Do you see things as I do?
Take the color we call blue.
Now does it appear to you,
Do you see it, in your head,
As the color I call red?”

Then the one he knew replied,
“There is nothing that can guide
Me, I’d have to be inside
Of your head before I tried
To determine if my blue
Would appear as red to you.”

Then the man said, “And if red
As I see it in my head
Might then be perceived by you
As the color you call blue
Might your color red be seen
By me as what I call green?”

Then his friend said, “I’m inclined
To believe you’re color-blind.
Green is green, not red nor blue.
Can’t you see that, or do you
Merely wish to start a fight?
Next, you’ll tell me black is white.”

But the man said, “Not at all.
I just wondered if you call
The same color I call blue
By some other name. Do you?
We both call it so, it’s true,
But do we see the same hue?”

Came the answer, “That’s enough.
Maybe I should call your bluff.
What’s the color of the sea?
Is it blue or green? Tell me.
Is there just one hue you see
Or does it have two or three?”

He replied, “The sea is gray
On a cloudy, stormy day.
On a clear day, though, it’s true
It will then appear as blue.
When the noonday sun shines bright
It will often sparkle white.”

“What’s the color of the sun?
Yellow, orange, or red? Pick one.”
“Yellow shines the sun all day
‘Til it sets across the bay
When it turns to orange, then red.
Sometimes even green, it’s said.”

“And what colors can you name
That you’d find within a flame?’
“Yellow, white, and orange you see
When a flame burns steadily,
But when smoke goes up the stack
Often you’ll see red and black.”

“Thus, one color isn’t right.
Colors change, then, with the light,
Sometimes dark, and sometimes bright
Whether seen by day or night.
So do you believe we see
The same colors differently?”

“I can well believe,” he said,
“Though it’s only in my head
Something blue might look like red
Or some other hue, instead,
Viewed in a much different light.
So, I guess that I was right.”

“But you don’t know if I see
Things the same, or differently.
Colors might appear to me
In a way that cannot be
Fully understood by you,”
Said his friend. “Perhaps I do.”

“But I thought that you just said
How I see things in my head
Makes no difference. Red is red,
Even if I have been led
To believe I’m seeing blue,”
Said the man. “Well, didn’t you?”

“When two people can agree
On the things that they both see
That is called reality.
You, however, asked of me
If the color you call red
I perceive as blue instead.

“Who can say if that is true?
I can’t tell, ‘cause I’m not you.
Any color you can name
Isn’t going to look the same
Viewed within a different frame.
That would be quite hard to claim.

“If you do not think you’re right
Why then would you pick a fight?
If you think you are, why ask?
Truth is tricky to unmask;
What’s the answer? Only you
Can decide if it is true.”

“I’m confused,” the man replied.
“Logic cannot be applied
Here, so now I must decide
Whether you are on my side.
When I said that I was right
Then you tried to pick a fight.

“Do you want to be a pain?
Why then do you pull my chain?
I don’t care if you do see
The same colors differently.
If you can’t be more polite
Then I will just say good-night!”

Whereupon he walked away,
But he never, to this day,
Found out if the color red
As he saw it, in his head,
Was what someone else might view
As the color he called blue.