Why the Sky is Blue

by John Ciardi

I don’t suppose you happen to know

Why the sky is blue? It’s because the snow

Takes out the white. That leaves it clean

For the trees and grass to take out the green.

Then pears and bananas start to mellow,

And bit by bit they take out the yellow.

The sunsets, of course, take out the red

And pour it into the ocean bed

Or behind the mountains in the west.

You take all that out and the rest

Couldn’t be anything else but blue.

Look for yourself. You can see it’s true.