There must be a storm before every rainbow,
A caterpillar before the butterfly emerges,
April showers before the flowers bloom,
Winter before spring comes to be,
So it is with living, pain must awaken us to the sweetness of life.

How many times have we grown angry causing others to suffer,
Tempers raging, spurting out hard words without any buffer?
Why must people continually hurt one another,
Instead of trying to be a friend or brother?

Why can’t we just realize that time is short
And we need to treat everyone with kindness from his heart.
Why must ugliness always hang around and rear its head
Where gentleness would have been so much better instead.

So give me rainbows, butterflies, flowers, and spring, all these earthly perceptions,
That will help me to realize that this life is merely a preview of a world of total perfection.

By Ann Leyh