Aren’t rainbows beautiful things? Depends what you mean by “things”. . .
That big rainbow in the sky
Isn’t there. I’ll tell you why:
It’s just nature’s grandest optical illusion.
Every single drop of rain
Bounces sunlight back again
And refracts it, making colours in profusion.
But the colours don’t entangle
’Cos each colour has an angle
Which it makes between the sun, the drop, and you.
If a drop’s in every place
That a ray could hit your face,
Then you see a bow of yellow, red, or blue.
But there ain’t no rainbow there!
It’s a mirage in the air:
If you flew up to the cloud, you wouldn’t see it.
(Do you think that’s too pedantic?
If your vision’s more romantic
And includes a pot of gold, well then, so be it . . .)