Rainbow
If you can
Look, see the children play.
Build sunshine from rain
Casting rainbows and rubies,
Find stairways to heaven
And back again.
If you can
Listen, hear their voices,
Bring music from sound
Raising castles and kings,
Find highways to freedom
Begin on the ground.
If you can
Learn, with their teaching.
Turn quickly from pain
Weaving dreams for a future,
Then you can run to heaven
And back again.
1981

This poem was written in 1981, and then recently edited (2024) for the ‘100 Poems of Hope’ anthology it is in. I like this one. I like the way it sounds in my head, even if the third verse is slightly different. I’ve read it a few times as I typed it up, and I still like it as it was written.
PUBLISHED in 100 Poems of Hope by the Macclesfield Samaritans August 2024