A morning pot of gold and then the rainbow

Written on November 28, 2022

It happened so quickly that for a minute, I though I had imagined the whole thing.

I woke up to a golden glow out our windows, as though someone was shining a marigold spotlight on the buildings across the street. When I stepped out to go for a short walk, I was taken aback at how gold the sky was to the east. Then I turned around and gasped.

In the 15 years I’ve lived here, NYC has never treated me to a rainbow, much less one like this. I kept trying to capture the whole thing, but it was impossible. It was as though Mother Nature was trying to tell us to take it in, to be still just for a moment. Not everything has to be captured in its entirety for your story to be true.

I continued walking, watching others try to take it all in too. I turned around at 104th Street and by the time I passed 106th Street, it was gone. The golden glow that illuminated the city had vanished, leaving a gray mist in its wake.

For a minute though, it was mine to take in and I’ll hold onto that sky forever. It was truly spectacular.

Meredith Somsel