i move quickly
through warm
moist air
swinging and swatting mosquitos
retracing steps through the woods
to find the spot where i first saw
the tamarack

tall and straight as a white pine
so similar -- yet so strange
sprouting fresh green needles
directly from the trunk
down low
while delicate fronds of green
move gently with the breeze
up high

among all these pines
whose branches
bristle with needles
a hundred feet above
atop a long bare trunk
in this airy cathedral
with column and canopy
the tamarack stands
exotic -- graceful
a beguiling presence

because of the bugs
i know i cannot stay
but i had to see it again today

a little way down the path
a beautiful woman
carries a beautiful baby

she says hi! -- as she crosses
heading in another direction

i summon the courage to say
look at this tree

she says
what's wrong with it?
but then she sees the beauty
that has caught me

oh wow!
she exclaims

i tell her
what i learned from the book

it's the tamarack
from way up north
not seen around here much

i forgot to say
and stranger still
it loses its needles in the fall
it's not an evergreen
at all

but she says
thank you
thank you
i wouldn't have seen it!
as she walks on
smiling
brushing mosquitos
from the baby's head

when i return
to the open air
around the water
i see glints of rainbow
in the clouds
so i sit beneath a tree
on the beach
to watch

as a wide-eyed young child
passes nearby
i have to say
look at the rainbow...

her mother responds
much as the first did earlier
i wouldn't have seen it!

i tell the little girl
most of the time
you need the rain
to make a rainbow
but sometimes
it can happen
with just the clouds
and sometimes
there's a rainbow
around the moon

sometimes...
she replies
eyes as big as the sky

they smile and walk on

when i finally step out
from under the tree
and look up
my heart leaps

over the diffuse
fragmented rainbow
that still cirlces
the hazy sun
a reverse arc
is mirrored above
a brilliant rainbow smile
that spans the vault
of heaven

i am thoroughly bedazzled
i go around
telling everyone
look at the rainbows!
look at the rainbows!
delirious with life
to have learned
this lesson--

every gift
is to be given
every secret shared!
every wonder
to be wakened!
only if we dare!