Missing the Better Show

The sun was blazing in the sky

Behind the drifting cloud,

It silhouetted the great tree

Standing strong and proud.

The aspect of them mingling there

Was worth a gasp aloud.

But as I turned from such a view

Still awed by what I’d seen,

Another vision caught my eye,

A faint, but colored sheen.

A rainbow cast across the sky,

Reflected by the sun,

Was cast across the rain dark clouds

Before the day was done.

It had begun, by then, to fade,

And it was hard to see;

Darker where the sky was black,

But lost against the sea.

Had I but waited moments more,

Enrapt by the bright blaze,

I might have missed the precious gift

Born of these rainy days.

Watching the big event unfold,

I’d miss the better show,

How often have I done the same

In life? I just don’t know.

A lesson learned, but not the most

Important of the day.

Remember that the rainbow shown

Most bright where all was gray!

And so our joys shine brightest when

We’ve had to face our pain,

When we’ve been battered by the gales

Then rise to shine again.

For rainbows only come to us

When we’ve endured the rain.