(to the rainbow) <br /> <br />Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky <br /> Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray <br />Each in the other melting. Much mine eye <br /> Delights to linger on thee; for the day, <br />Changeful and many-weather'd, seem'd to smile <br />Flashing brief splendor thro' its clouds awhile, <br /> That deepen'd dark anon and fell in rain: <br />But pleasant is it now to pause, and view <br />Thy various tints of frail and watery hue, <br /> And think the storm shall not return again. <br />Such is the smile that Piety bestows <br /> On the good man's pale cheek, when he in peace <br />Departing gently from a world of woes, <br /> Anticipates the realm where sorrows cease.<br /><br />Robert Southey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-07-3/
