The Disputation Of The Hues

The Disputation Of The Hues

The colors of the Rainbow were

At odds with one another, who

Judged each should be superior

To all the other shades in view.

And so they argued who was best?

Is it the Red, Yellow or Blue,

Who’d rise—its beauty to contest,

As colors are inclined to do.

And after each had made a claim,

Primary colors, answered by

Those secondary ones that came,

Began giving their own reply.

Then, mixing Yellow up with Red,

Orange said, “Hello, look at me!”

As Blue and Yellow came instead,

As Green is, “I am, don’t y’ see?”

Then Red together met with Blue

And Purple of that couple came,

Who said, “Please call me ‘Violet’”

(That’s purple by another name)

But, none of them agreed between

Each other who’s the finest hue

Yet wasn’t Orange, Purple, Green,

Nor was it Red, Yellow or Blue,

Till, taking council with the Cloud,

In knowing it had made them so

As each of them had been endowed

By none other than the Rainbow,

The Cloud said, “But it is the Sun

Above that has illumined me,

And by his Light comes everyone

Of all the colors you can see.”