The Iris of my Eye

Question

Rarely you may think I'm seen
Often, though, can I be found
You can find me in the falls
Glowing well above the ground
Bending beauty in the sky
Interesting to the eye
Varied light waves arching high

What does this little poem describe?

_{This is not intended to be very difficult. I get bored in meetings and like to make up puzzles to keep awake. This little riddle is one of those.}

Yay! the first riddle I was able to get on this site without cheating through the spoilers — Digital Trauma, Apr 27 '16 at 19:28

Z. Dailey · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-27T18:39:20.627

15

Rainbow

Because

ROYGBIV (the first letters of each line) is the acronym for the colors of a rainbow red orange yellow green blue indigo violet

Also clues hint toward something rare and off the ground, but can be seen in many other circumstances.
Particular clues that stand out are "bending beauty in the sky" "glowing well above the ground" and "varied light waves" which varied light waves grants the different colors.

Can be seen in water falls.

Iris is the goddess of the rainbow (credit to @f")

edited Apr 27 '16 at 18:39

answered Apr 27 '16 at 17:55

Z. Dailey

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In Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the [answer]. – f'' Apr 27 '16 at 18:24
@f'' Colorful part of the eye! Nice! ... Wait... – SendersReagent Apr 27 '16 at 18:27
Personally, I'd give this one the tick because despite being answered a little later, it included more detail earlier and notes the acrostic. – feelinferrety Apr 27 '16 at 22:32
@feelinferrety Yeah, but what if it's not right? – SendersReagent Apr 27 '16 at 22:52
@SendersReagent if it's right, Mr. Pedantic. :P *Edit to above: "Given the choice between this one and LearningPhase, personally..." – feelinferrety Apr 28 '16 at 00:23
@feelinferrety How 'bout a tick to Z. Dailey and an upvote to LearningPhase for being quick on the draw? – Engineer Toast Apr 28 '16 at 03:15
@EngineerToast Ahh, so you're not a stickler like I. Well, I figured I'd try. =P I liked the puzzle and figured there was a pretty low chance that you were being as much a nit picker as I was. Of course, if this hadn't already been guessed, I wouldn't have even thought about how it could be anything else. – SendersReagent Apr 28 '16 at 03:36

score 11 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 27 '16 at 18:08

11

Is it a

Rainbow

We usually/rarely see rainbow in the rainy season
Not sure
It can be seen in the water falls
It's can be seen above the ground
With the rainbow the sky looks beautiful
Once we see a rainbow we kind of like it, amuses our eyes especially kids.
As it have different (varied) colors in it which can be see waving towards the sky

edited Apr 27 '16 at 18:08

Khale_Kitha

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answered Apr 27 '16 at 17:53

LearningPhase

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I downvoted since there was originally no explanation. – Deusovi Apr 27 '16 at 18:57

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 27 '16 at 20:53

Is it

Aurora

Rarely you may think I'm seen

Relatively rare phenomenon

Often, though, can I be found

Yes, often auroras can be found in the north

You can find me in the falls

When the nights grow longer, there is more time for auroras to dance

Glowing well above the ground

They happen in the sky

Bending beauty in the sky

They are very pretty

Interesting to the eye

They change as you watch

Varied light waves arching high

Not all the colors are the same

So the "ROYGBIV" is a coincidence? – SendersReagent Apr 27 '16 at 21:01 — SendersReagent, Apr 27 '16 at 21:01

SendersReagent · Answer 4 · 2016-04-28T01:40:16.817

The visible light spectrum

I think this is the actual answer because:

As many have noticed, rainbow seems to fit, but technically a rainbow is only in the sky and due to rain and other water droplets in the atmosphere. So it would technically be the continuous visible light spectrum from red to violet.

Rarely you may think I'm see, often though can I be found

Many people (children would make up a big portion of this) think that refracted light in the form of "ROYGBIV" is only seen in rainbows, but really, you can see it from refraction through many things. Sprinkler, prism, etc.

You can find me in the falls

Can be seen in waterfalls due to refraction of white light by water droplets

Glowing well above the ground

Well, refraction isn't actually due to the water glowing, but it gets the point across.

Bending beauty in the sky

Rainbow is an example of the refraction spectrum of white light, in which case it's an arch in the sky.

Interesting to the eye

Uses all the colors we can see.

Varied lightwaves arching high

See "Bending beauty" above.

Lastly,

ROYGBIV, as noted by Z. Dailey. Also, if you're actually an engineer (as your name suggests), there is a good chance you, like I, would get pedantic about minor discrepancies like this when it comes to physical phenomena.

The Iris of my Eye

4 Answers4