"Why is the Sky Blue?"

"Why is the sky blue?"
You ask me.
Your face is set in concrete
Suspicious eyes glare.

"Because we're living at the end of the rainbow, son
and you're my pot of gold."

You scowl.

"That's a lie, dad.
You never tell the truth."

It hurts,
But I know you don't mean it
Or understand how true it is.

So I spin theory and light for you.
How angle of incidence
Determines refraction.
And how the passionate inferno of sunrise
Scatters and passes
Because the wavelength is so short
But the long vibrations of cool blue photons
Stay the whole day through.

I look into your blue eyes like mine and see it

"Like a ball bounces," you say.

"Exactly."

My heart explodes.
I reach for you.

I wake up someplace cold and dark,
Where the heat of my lover can't comfort me.
I stare across two thousand miles
To watch a memory of your chest
Rise and fall
Like a slow blue photon.

I wonder how long
Your face will stay hidden.
I wonder what I'll say
When you start asking questions
I can't answer with science.