Fading Away

The reddish color of my shirt
was once red as the ribbons on a chocolate box
it was once as red as the petals of those roses,
as red as the tangy sour candy i used to buy.

I guess it's because i've been wearing it too much
and it gets into the rough hands of the cleaners
too often, and starts turning into a shade of pink
or some bastarded color of red.

To get to the point, it wasn't as red as I liked it:
it didn't give that feeling - it wasn't pure anymore
i'd be shyed away wearing it, it turned pinkish
dirty with all the traces of white.

I wish there was some kind of reddish tee dye
which would stay permanent, so that I could
muster up the confidence of wearing the red shirt
again, and I'd be able to love it for always.