The Unexpected

Don't know how
it is I am still awake.
Out all night on call,
driving miles and miles
of dark road,
someone very ill
at the end of my journey.
But this morning,
just as I thought
I am done
with this, I can do more
but die, a rainbow rose
in front of me.
From the indigo clouds
of night, lifting like song
into burning morning.
From nothing it came,
nothing but itself. Not one
storm cloud, not one drop
of rain. I came closer
to losing myself in this life
as I craned my neck,
not satisfied with the slice
afforded, than I did
to sleeplessness and deer
crossings.
Me, allowed to see
such beauty, leaving behind
the men so lost in voices
and fear that no rainbow
could penetrate
their darkness, nor make
any sense if it did.