house painter

The first time we looked round
it was like entering the mind of an amnesiac.
Not a new-born
(white would be too intimidating
any mark you made would feel dirty)
but the estate agent's approximation
of blank canvas : magnolia

For months its cool cheeks
kaleidoscoped with colour samples
each settling briefly as a butterfly
till, unable to bear the flat's visual silence
brooding under this clamour of rainbows
we made up our minds

Only to find that, as we peeled off the layers
to make a fresh start (it was built in 1849)
the colours beneath
were precicely those we had chosen

on every surface, in every room
and always had been