So we move on to the third and concluding part of my theme “nature”, having previously covered nature as in “of man” and “animals and creatures”, so here we move onto “beauty”…..
It was apparently written centuries ago that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, and generally credited that the first time it was used “as we know it”, was by a female author Margaret Wolfe Hungerford in 1878. Now I am sure that I’m not alone in thinking, even before I knew it was a female credited thus as it could have been a man, that the the author wasn’t totally happy with their appearance? I might be wrong but could it be a rationalisation?
Perhaps that is just the querying poet in me, but whilst casting the thought about beauty and the beholder, I can’t really disagree, for beauty IS a personal opinion, and a view that surely differs from one person to another. I personally quite regularly describe someone as a “beautiful person” in which I mean that they are generous, kind and thoughtful of others, rather than specifically beautiful and attractive looking on the outside. Do you agree?
Anyway I think “natures beauty” that we are considering here is more of a scenic or presenting appreciation, and on that basis comes my first poem here and from my second book, “More Poetic Views of Life” and entitled “Promise for Tomorrow”
Promise for Tomorrow
Stunning, blazing, setting sun
Like a fireball in the sky,
Enriching even dismal views
Like a picnic for your eye.
It seems as if the day won’t leave
Without an ending glorious sight,
Before it passes into dark
It has to demonstrate its might.
Then promise that it will be back,
With a shepherds delight tomorrow
So the day can slip away,
With cheer instead of sorrow.
Stunning, blazing setting sun
Like a fireball in the sky,
Enriching even dismal views
Like a picnic for your eye.
But be sure when night has done
And surrendered all the gloom,
The sun will come up once again
All keen to show its bloom.
Thus the shepherd will be right
About the promised daybreak,
So the only way to spoil the view
Is with bad decisions we make!
–
Fairly obvious there then, but other considerations may not be so straightforward, for example landscapes, the sea, sky, thunderstorms and architecture etc, may all illicit differing views (sorry) of opinion as to their particular beauty or attraction. Are you thinking of your own ideas and personal likes?
Meanwhile I will table another poem from the romance section of my 5th book “Life Presented in Verse” and called simply “Picture”.
Picture
When I contemplate a painting
I always think of you,
Pretty as any art work
And so lovely with it too.
For no Mona Lisa picture
Or da Vinci at his best,
Could ever create attraction
That could ever pass your test.
For brush strokes can’t come alive
However clever is the touch,
And inner and outer beauty
Will always need so much
To capture all its presentation,
Only fully blossomed in the flesh
That no painting can fully copy
Or have a scent so fresh.
Thus a living breathing person
Is real beauty to behold,
So however warm a painting looks,
When you touch it, it feels cold.
Thus indulge any masterpiece
That you may have for real,
As you are truly a collector
With your picture you can feel.
So when appraising your treasure
Of art in human form,
Don’t ever take it for granted
Or believe it’s just the norm.
For you must love and cultivate
Your own Mona Lisa smile,
Remembering you have it always
And not for just a while.
–
I am quite sure there could be a great debate from the art lovers about what is best or has the most attraction, but of course as we started off, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or is it?
Of course there are those people who want to have beauty, or the “best of” everything and anything, whether it is touchable, personal, tangible, or just is best or them. People like the one’s in this poem for instance?
Sunny Side of the Street
The sun will often shine down
Causing shadows where it meets,
Sides of the way or roadside
But can be sunny on the streets.
So some folk will always strive for
The best place to put their feet,
For they will just seek to be
On the sunny side of the street.
No rain of life must touch them
Or you will loudly hear them bleat,
The injustice of their fortune
If not on the sunny side of the street.
Many trials of life will test us
As to who can bear stress and heat,
Though lots will give up trying
To rest on the sunny side of the street.
But you can find many decent people
That you are overjoyed to meet,
Who don’t spend their life seeking
That sunny side of the street.
And maybe you will find some love
With someone oh so sweet,
But this can lead to heartbreak
If they want sunny sides of the street.
So this dismal story covers most
Who just want to run and retreat,
And be self centred and non triers
On the sunny side of the street.
Though life will have more for you
If appreciation of it you show,
Treating the world and people kindly
You’ll have sunshine wherever you go.
–
That poem is from my 4th book Life Scene in Verse (Scene? We can’t stray off topic theme a?).
I guess another opinion of beauty or attraction could be prevailing weather or temperatures, as some like it cooler or even cold, whilst probably the majority would prefer the sun and heat, just as long as it isn’t TOO hot ho, ho!!!!
Well hopefully I have offered a few suggestions for thought and debate, maybe even personal reflection, but all in a days work (or article?) for a poet!
That said I will leave you with it then, but just a final consideration for when you next look in the mirror and wonder if you are an external or internal beauty, or do you need to rely mostly on your “nature”?
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