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A Study in Blue

By Darrell A. Harris
May 14, 2005
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For the Celebration of the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo"

After hours
Alone with yourself
That's when it happens
That feelin' that comes stealin'
and goes right on down to your shoes

The soundtrack?
One of those Harlem nocturnes
Some foggy lullaby all full of sapphire and indigo

Of course there are the happier shades
Powder and peacock, turquoise and sky
But we speak here of those melodies of midnight hue

They seep in like the mist

     a thief in the night

          leaving you yearning

               tossing and turning

                    with a heart full of blue

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