A perfect bow drawn right across the sky
Caused an intake of breath in wonder and awe
As I stood looking up, riveted by the splendour
Of such a rare phenomenon.
Spectral colours, clearly visible even to my dim old eyes,
Created a picture worth recording and preserving.
Some digital camera shots, later printed and framed,
Let me feast my eyes afresh in retrospect
On the beauty and perfection of that rainbow,
Drawn by the Immortal Artist from Heaven.
As I gaze at its pure colours and perfect shape
I am enveloped in an atmosphere of peace and calm.
I sense a promise, a message from Heaven.
There is beauty all around if we but open our eyes to see.
There is peace, too, amid the strife and greed and violence.
There is something more to life than raw consumerism.
Why seek experiences that are pale images of Nature?
The psychedelic colours of magic-mushroom-induced fantasy
Are illusory and ephemeral and cannot be recorded.
Under hallucinogenic influence you may gasp in wonder
At what you perceive as the beauty of your kaleidoscope.
Try taking some pictures and the film will remain blank.
There is nothing there but the delusions of manipulated perception.
The film may be blank but your personality will be altered.
Your mind will bear an imprint and lose its freedom of expression.
I will remain satisfied with intoxication from my rainbow.
My omelette will contain shiitake, chestnut or field mushrooms.
I want nothing artificial or illusory or fake.
I have stood and stared at the lone, bright star of an Arctic morning
And I have had a rare glimpse of the Northern Lights.
I have reached up towards the crystal-clear stars of a New Zealand night sky.
There, too, I have gasped at an amazing eclipse of the moon.
Our world is full of breath-taking, natural beauty for free.
Why do we need the dazzling artificial lights
Of a sky lit up by fireworks with their terrifying loud bangs.
Or the subjective colours of magic mushroom hallucination,
Not to mention twinkling Santas climbing ladders to the chimney?
I can still picture that rainbow stretching unbroken across the sky,
Conveying a spiritual dimension and vision of pure ecstasy.
Its perfection and beauty will linger long in my memory,
And its promise of hope will lighten the bleakest of days.