Susan’s Thursday morning note July 10, 2021
Poetry and Quotes on Loveliness. Nature's loveliness.
Good morning! Absolute quiet in the trees except for a few little leaves giving clues to where the birds are hiding. Shiny glimpses of spider webs between the trees must entice our daring minuscule insect friends to try out tightrope walking. An over-sized dove just failed at landing on a high thin branch. She doesn’t realize her short fall from dignity was observed and smiled at.
My angel of dawn is quietly peering through my curtains to hand me her priceless gift of life today. Glancing into my window. Morning light on her shoulder. Daisies in her bouquet. Quietly smiling and encouraging me enter this day. To enter the notes of my song this morning. To continue my composition called life.
This week I reread a beautiful poem of loveliness surrounding us in life. If we will only look. If we will only accept the gift. Following this poem by Sara Teasdale are quotes and one more poem I loved on laying aside our burdens as we rest, finding loveliness.
Barter by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) Life has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Soaring fire that sways and sings, And children’s faces looking up Holding wonder like a cup. Life has loveliness to sell, Music like a curve of gold, Scent of pine trees in the rain, Eyes that love you, arms that hold, And for your spirit’s still delight, Holy thoughts that star the night. Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost; For one white singing hour of pace Count many a year of strife well lost, And for a breath of ecstasy Give all you have been, or could be.”
“God’s finger can touch nothing but to mold it into loveliness.” George MacDonald (1824-1905)
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever; 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…” John Keats (1795-1821)
“My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth’s loveliness.” Michelangelo (1475-1564)
“But there are rare souls whose spirit gets magically into the hearts of men, leave behind them something ore real and warmly personal than bodily presence, an ineffable and eternal thing. It is everlasting life touching us as something more than a vague, recondite concept. The sound of a great name dies like an echo; the splendor of fame fades into nothing; but the grace of a fine spirit pervades the places through which it has passed, like the haunting loveliness of mignonette.” James Thurber (1894-1961)
“If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.” Therese de Lisieux (1873-1897)
“I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature’s loveliness.” John Muir (1838-1914)
“Cherish your vision, cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.” James Allen (1855-1952)
When Loveliness Goes By by Anna Hempstead Branch (1875-1937) Sometimes when all the world seems grey and dun And nothing beautiful, a voice will cry, “Look out, look out! Angels are drawing nigh!” Then my slow burdens leave me one by one, And swiftly does my heart arise and run Even like a child while loveliness goes by - And common folk seem children of the sky, And common things seem shaped of the sun. Oh, pitiful! that I who love them, must So soon perceive their shining garments fade! And slowly, slowly, from the eyes of trust Their flaming banners sink into a shade! While this earth’s sunshine seems the golden dust Slow settling from that radiant cavalcade.
Another Thursday. Our sand timer continually running. Can we remember that only one grain can pass through at a time, regardless of the constant movement? Can we develop the ability to notice a particular moment as the grain travels? Take mental pictures creating personal albums we can look through when we close our eyes. Tiny veins on an old hand. Curls on the back of a young child. Distant eyes of a teenager. Off-note little bird songs. All life. All beautiful. Today. Our gift. The winds will continually blow. We cannot stop the winds, but we can hold moments. Tonight. Tonight we again have the chisel handed to us. Will we have any words worthy of inscribing in stone? Any thoughts today worthy of saving? Any looks given or taken worthy of inscribing? Moments. The winds blow. Constant change. But always life. Beautiful life. Our gift.
Thank you for letting me again enter your Thursday. For coming to our store for your gifts and toys. For taking a few moments of your sand timers to realize the importance of picking out a book. Of picking out a book that you will walk out of our world with into your own. A book that may possibly change the rest of your life. I promise the smiles, the coffee, and the momentary escape from your world as your enter ours. Have a beautiful rest of the week! Susan
Latin for this week:
venustas – loveliness, charm, attractiveness, beauty
lepidus – elegant, witty, charming, glamorous, enchanting, lovely
formosus pulcher – lovely