From the series: "Tasting Blue"

 

RECIPE FOR MAKING THE COLOUR BLUE

 

 

If you wish to make the colour blue

take a piece of sky and put it in a pot

large enough to place on the flame of the horizon.

Stir into the blue a pinch of early morning red

until it dissolves. Pour everything

into a brass bowl that has been well washed

to eliminate all of the afternoon’s impurities.

Finally, sift in a few smidgens of gold from the sand

of midday until the colour adheres to the bottom of the bowl.

To prevent the colours from separating with time,

drop a charred peach pit into the liquid.

It will disintegrate, leaving no telltale

sign, not even – from the black ash – an ochre trace

on the golden surface. You may then raise the colour

to eye level and compare it with genuine blue.

The two colours will look so alike

that you cannot distinguish one from the other.

This was how I did it – I, Abraham ben Judah Ibn Haim,

illuminator from the town of Loulé. And I left the recipe

for whoever, one day, would imitate the sky.

 

Nuno Judice

 

Translation: Richard Zenith

Done