For Arthur Wayne Reed...
The rainbow fell on me today...
Dropped round me like glass popsicles
lay twinkling at my feet; I think it's my price
For letting my dreams get the better of me.
You see, I had accumulated so many
They died of overpopulation
But now they've broken --I haven't any
And I can't pick up the pieces yet again.
And now goodbye my newest friend
Though I've tried to reach you somehow
We can't always do what we intend
So I'm calling to say -- my rainbow crashed today...
The colours were so very bright
They blinded me as they fell
Oh, God --I thought I'd done it right
This time, but I was wrong again.
Why didn't you ever let me know
Your secret for surviving...
Was my buildup a little slow,
Or did it die of the weight of my hopes?
Oh, sorry...I had forgotten
You were a part of that jewel-like span.
Not a big slice, just a sliver...
I think it grazed my heart as it tumbled by.
There it is now, lying in the gutter
Like a piece of stained glass
the color of a full-blown rose.
And who that sees it will ever know
That little moment of sunlight
Was the place I saved for you
In the middle of my rainbow...
The one that will never come true.
BROKEN RAINBOW is at the beginning of BEYOND THE GLASS RAINBOW, a novel (as yet unpublished) written with Sandra Brandenburg.