In his poem ‘Lamia’ John Keats used the phrases ‘cold philosophy’ and ‘unweave a rainbow’ to lament science’s cold deconstruction of a rainbow into seven colours.
According to Richard Dawkins, however, when discussing his book Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder , the opposite is true: solved mysteries reveal deeper beauty and as such, science can be the inspiration for great poetry.
Night wonder
She asks a question
about the halo of ice crystals
around Adelaide’s half moon tonight
and the conversation flickers
around reflected light
and lunar bows,
a rainbow’s shyer sibling,
its darker moonlit twin.
Cold philosophy
may have unweaved rainbows
but has yet
to whet its blade
on moonbows,
long abandoned by leprechauns
with pots of gold in tow.
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