The Rainbow Poem by Ian G Fraser

The rain is easing and the storm dispersed.
The clouds swing to the east
And there is a faint hint of sun
near to the far horizon.

Oh how I hope there’ll be a rainbow!
For weeks the rain has come and gone.
Skies have been grey, without a hint of light
after the gloom, which has remained.
until the next rain came again.

And so it went. Week after week
without a truce, leaving the world gasping and hopeless.
Towns have been buried, houses washed away,
men and women lost in the flood waters.
There has been no Noah there to rescue us.

It is now we need you, rainbow.
Please come, we are pleading with you.
And then, suddenly, it appears.
A flash shines out and there it is,
arcing towards the distant mountainside.

Its curve pushes aside the grey of cloud
And its base leans out against the front of the grim summit,
laughing at it quietly as it turns it pink,
first with excitement then embarrassment.

If we can't believe in God,
then let us at least believe in metaphors.
All animals, when they see a rainbow, laugh
or bark or screech or howl with glee,
whatever sound they’re capable of

They know the rainbow is a bridge
across which they must pass
to meet again what lived on earth before,
which never can be lost to them,
and so must we.