-- Beauty –

John Herlihy

Beauty

Outer worlds entering inner worlds,

Passing thru the sieve of perception.

The meeting of time and the timeless,

Safe and secure in the soul’s protection.

Beauty

In spring, blossoms on the apple tree,

The dawn dew-filled, the dusk in flames.

Mind and heart kneel on bended knee,

The night sky filled with stardust stains.

Beauty

Nature asks no questions, already knows,

Nature’s mirror seen through God’s eyes.

God’s eyes the field where beauty grows,

A sight brimming, eternal, that never dies.

Beauty

The unfolded petals of the rose in full bloom,

The sight touches us, but the smell delights.

Is it the sight or the smell that has us swoon,

Falling into a trance with shimmering lights.

Beauty

Spiraling flight of an autumn leaf in freefall,

Beauty tinged with tracings of melancholy.

The magical dusting of the night in snowfall,

Such beauty inspires with its wild mystery.

Beauty

Fills the senses, each in their own right,

Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching.

Light reveals day, darkness music of night,

In the beauty of intimacy, the heart stilling.

Beauty

Invites us freely into its unique frontier,

A native wilderness that murmurs peace.

The forest cathedral and its silence austere,

Awakens the soul with its blessed release.

Beauty

The wings of the butterfly, the endless sky,

Smells of hyacinth, the melodies of the lute.

The buzzing of bees, the lantern of the firefly,

Beauty arrives everywhere, leaving us mute.

Beauty

The harvest of presence in the gathering storm,

The darkening pillow clouds, lightning, thunder.

An outer miracle that is innerly as beauty born,

Smothers the horizon with its stunning wonder.

Beauty

In the stained-glass window, beauty in the light,

Beauty turns beautiful when it speaks to us true .

In the deep recesses of the night sky, moonlight,

Earthly beauty infinite on wings the Spirit blew.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Monday 6 June 2022