The Rainbow: Contained Wrath

The following four line poem appears in my forthcoming book Boat of Letters:

This poem came out of studying how the rainbow is understood in classic Jewish texts.

In Genesis, Chapter 9, it says:

12 “And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant, which I am placing between Me and between you, and between every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations.

13 My rainbow I have placed in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Myself and the earth….”

When Noah steps out of the ark, he sees the rainbow and says:

16 “And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and between every living creature among all flesh, which is on the earth."

Wordsworth recalls this moment in his poem “My Heart Leaps Up”:

Wordsworth’s poem does not reflect the traditional understanding of this moment in any obvious way.

The Hebrew word for rainbow, "keshet," also means "bow," a weapon of war. This connection is significant as the rainbow is seen as God "lowering his bow," signifying an end of anger and judgment.

The Babylonian Talmud associates rainbows with Divine anger. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai's lifetime is cited as an example where no rainbow appeared, suggesting that anger had subsided during that time.

In other words, the rainbow signals contained wrath. And the title of my poem links this idea to an unsentimental way of understanding “love:” perhaps love, on its deepest level, must sometimes include holding back anger.

Prompt:

Think of something in the world that is normally thought of as pretty. Perhaps a sunset or waterfall. Perhaps a cute fluffy animal. Or something outside of nature such as a beautiful sleek tall building or the perfect sports car. Delve into its opposite: can this element include cruelty, ugliness, anger, or something unpretty? See where this takes you. (Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 may be an inspiration: he describes a woman with unattractive qualities and his love for her).