Supernumerary Rainbows Over New Jersey

The text explains that you need,
Along with the usual
Preconditions for rainbows,

Water droplets all nearly
The same size, typically
Less than a millimeter.

Then sun reflects from inside
The raindrops and interferes
Like ripples radiating

From a stone thrown in a pond.
The text stresses that, in fact,
These supernumerary

Rainbows cannot be explained
Except as patterns of waves,
Part of early arguments

For the wave nature of light.
Informative. Very nice,
But the part catching the eye

Lies in the straight-faced caption
For the accompanying
Illustration. New Jersey?

Could a rare phenomenon
Of nature really be linked
To that paved-over garden?

A supernumerary
Rainbow in that circumstance
Feels almost cautionary,

Covenantal reminder
Nature still lurks everywhere
And, also, next time the fire.