A Thing of Beauty

a quick sketch of the last rose amongst dying fall foliage

The world we have been given to enjoy is filled aplenty with "things" of Beauty.

It does not take much to please the eye that is open to seeing and the heart that is open to joy.

More often than not, simple things are there to delight us if we are paying attention and are not overlooking them in our search for the grand and the glorious.

. . . The last rose blooming in the tangle of the dying garden bed, glowing amongst the weeds, with the sun setting it aflame for our pleasure.

What a panacea for the spirit these simple beauties can be when we find them!

An excerpt of a poem by John Keats explains it well:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing

A flowery band to bind us to the earth,

Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth

Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,

Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways

Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,

Some shape of beauty moves away the pall

From our dark spirits . . .

“Some shape of beauty moves” us . . .

And it can be quite simple things.  

Last September I posted in an art forum a photo I took of a pear,   a simple pear I found amongst other pears at Kroger’s.   But this pear had a graceful dried leaf still attached to the stem, and I was struck by how beautiful it was.  I carefully brought it home and placed it, almost like an object of art, on the table beside my couch and enjoyed it.  But I had the impetus to share its beauty so I photographed it.

This simple pear in its natural beauty somehow caught at the imagination of another artist who saw my photo and inspired him to create this . . . a simply beautiful painting!  This painting now hangs in my home as a memento of shared beauty.

He was able to create the painting because he saw the beauty inherent in the single pear and its surroundings in the photograph.  At that same time, he had these thoughts below, which he shared in the form of a poem, another avenue of Beauty.

               Genesis

So we could see wonder and beauty

In the eyes of a curious child,

So we could hear laughter and music,

He made it so we’d be beguiled.

So we’d see the joy of a mother,

So we’d see the mountains and seas,

He made it so we’d smell the flowers

And listen to wind through the trees.

He made it so we would have peppers,

And pumpkins and gold fields of grain.

He made it so we would have comfort

In the comforting drumbeat of rain.

He made it so we could look up and see stars,

And wonder at how life begins.

So the sugar sweet juice of overripe pears

Could drip from the end of our chins

He made it so we’d see wild ponies,

The saucer like eyes of a fawn.

He made it so we could sleep under the moon,

And wake to a mist shrouded dawn.

He made it, and made us, and all that we see

And He made it to show how He cared.

He made it because it was lovely,

So lovely it had to be shared.

                                                                     ©Christopher Earle

The simple thing doesn't have to be a perfect rose or a perfect pear . . . it can be something that is quite simple indeed . . . a glimpse of a bird taking wing . . . or what Robert Frost had the eyes to see one day:

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

Genesis 1:31 "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

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Beauty

                                                

The rose "Elle" from my garden ©A. Rutherford

The poet John Keats said, "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty—

that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

One of the several "topics" I want to ponder more about this coming year is Beauty.  Beauty both in the Aristotelian sense of one of the great moral virtues co-equal with Truth and Goodness,  and also in the Scriptural sense of Beauty as an attribute of God.   I also want to reflect on the effect it has on individuals and society when people lose their sense of and their appreciation for the Beautiful. 

Sounds like a "hairy" topic . . . but it really isn't . . . and I believe it is such an important thing to think about.

Although Beauty is considered by philosophers as one of the "Great Ideas" of Western Civilization, Beauty can happen to us in such simple ways as well.

A while ago my daughter reminded me of a bit of a poem by Yeats, a poet we both enjoy.

from "The Rose upon the Rood of Time"

Come near, that no more blinded by man's fate,

I find under the boughs of love and hate,

In all poor foolish things that live a day,

Eternal Beauty wandering on her way.

Come near, come near, come near—Ah, leave me still

A little space for the rose-breath to fill!

I find the thought of rose-breath delightful and beautiful . . . maybe that's why I like to thrust my nose deep into the heart of flowers to inhale their essence.  I especially like flowers that have a sweet scent but also a coolness on my cheek.  

Ooops! I digress . . . this is supposed to be the beginning of a discussion about the way Beauty connects us with the eternal.  But flowers are a God-gift, are they not?

I think that's what I like about this blog format . . . topics can easily be returned to and added to as your thoughts about them develop and grow and even change.

I think it was Southern writer Flannery O'Connor who said (although several others get credit for it too), "How do I know what I think until I write it down and see what I say?"

That's great!  I always tell my students that writing is discovery, and you can't say you don't have anything to write about until you have "talked" to yourself on the page.  Get it down there in black and white so you can see what you have to say or what you think about the topic.  You may even disagree with what you think you thought!  ☺   And that's how we grow in our understanding.

But for now, let's reflect more on a special bit of Philippians 4:8:  

"Finally, brethren, . . . whatsoever is lovely . . . let your mind dwell on these things."

                "In Appreciation"

Accept, Eternal God, my prayer of thanks

For roses blushing in the twilight's haze,

For grasses drenched with diamond drops of dew,

For azure pastures where soft "cloud sheep" graze.

Accept my thanks for these: The robin's song,

The emerald arches of the trees above,

The murmur of the crystal brook nearby,

The plaintive cooing of the turtle dove.

Accept my thanks for winds that moan and sigh

And shake the leafy trees upon the hill,

For crimson berries dripping honeyed juice,

For velvet moss on stones besides the rill.

Accept, Eternal God, my thanks for all

The beauteous things Thy tender love has planned.

With grateful heart I touch each flower, each leaf,

And in so doing, touch Thy blessed hand!!

-by Emma Stewart Jacobson 

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