Rainbows Belong to Emily

It is a dramatically beautiful autumn morning. The air tastes fresh, like a drink of water from a bubbling mountain spring. The sun has just poked its head over the horizon and beams of warm light bounce off the brown and yellow leaves of an immature ash tree. The rays dance among the tree branches and then spill into the grass to play with the breeze.

A plump brown rabbit rests in the neighbor’s yard, munching its breakfast, wiggling its nose and reflecting on the day to come. When it notices me approaching, it twitches its ears good morning.

I am standing in my driveway, having just come out to retrieve the morning news. Just then my eyes are drawn to the western sky. That’s when I see it, stretching its hues across the corn fields, a pink rainbow. I stop and hold my breath.

And the first thought that finds my consciousness is that it would thrill Emily to behold this vision. That’s when it occurs to me that Rainbows belong to Emily.

Rainbows belong to Emily,
As do ponies, pixies, and rings.
Emily, you see is my princess,
And she owns all of these pretty things.

Eric owns ninjas and Spiderman.
He lays claim to cars and to trucks.
Bethy owns Dora’s adventures.
And she is also partial to ducks.

A green car is mine.
A blue one Ken claims.
And the house is in both of our names.
We all own two cats,
Or perhaps they own us.
Isn’t it all the same?

But whatever we own,
Whatever we see,
Whatever we feel or do,
There is only one thing
I know for certain.
And this I know is true.

Bethy owns bubbles and baubles.
She'd pick blankets too, if you asked.
Eric takes scooters,and skates and bikes
And things that go too fast.
But a rainbow is sweet and perfect,
And even though I know it won’t last,
Because it is pink and pretty,
It belongs to Emily.

Suddenly, the rainbow fades like a dream that drifts away when you wake. The rabbit is still sitting nearby, smiling at me. I wave and say "Good Day" before it hops back to its family. I turn back to the house to rejoin mine. Emily, alas, is still asleep. And I dare not wake her lest she miss her pretty dreams.