The First Man to See a Rainbow.(Poem)

 
THE FIRST MAN TO SEE A RAINBOW 
 
   --never told anyone. 
   Afraid it was only his imagination, 
   he kept the colors to himself, watched 
   the huge, hued arch slowly come and go, 
   alone like nothing else in the world. 
 
   He could see that he could see 
   through the spectral curve-- 
   not only over and under but through 
   the tinted rings, and that made him doubt 
   the rainbow was real. 
 
   Then, when he wished to touch 
   the blunt flush of that red rim, 
   the rainbow retreated, remaining distant 
   as he approached, as though 
   the touch of the man were death. 
 
   And the rainbow was nothing 
   like the horizon. He knew he could never 
   reach that, but he could stand 
   in a place he ...