The Rainbow
‘My heart leaps up when I behold’
‘A rainbow in the sky’
Filled with seven colours, the story untold,
Hanging there still, so high,
‘So was it when my life began,’
‘So is it’ now I am insane,
‘So it be’ when I shall grow demon
‘Or let me die’ in my insanity, my venom.
‘The child is the father of man’
And how could I wish my days to be
‘Bond by each to each in natural piety,’
If I could not check my desires,
When I could not hold to the truth
That every father is the child’s prey!

Alok Mishra