My text is extractedfromRodney Livingstone's translation of a short essay by the German cultural historian Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). It was written between 1914-15 during a metaphysical phase before Benjamin embraced Marxism. This text emphasisestheyoung person's, as opposed to the adult's, approach to colour: 'for the person who sees with a child's eyes, it marks boundaries, it is not a layer of something superimposed on matter, as it is with adults'. This work continuesmyinterest in art-based texts - from 'The Kiss' (1985) to my opera 'Facing Goya' (2000/02)┌ Michael Nyman 2003