The snow
began here...
...calling us back to why, how,
Whence such beauty and what
the meaning;...
...and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain-not a single
answer has been found-
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees
and through the fields,
feels like one.
The Night Traveler brought a gift of living the answer, and so too here the snow brings the answer - to walk in beauty. The snow also brought the questions - of why such beauty in the dark? From birth to death and from cosmic burst to cataclysm, our walking in beauty weaves a course in the fabric of our unknowing. The Navajo prayers speaks so well of this:
As I Walk with Beauty
As I walk, as I walk
The universe is walking with me
In beauty it walks before me
In beauty it walks behind me
In beauty it walks below me
In beauty it walks above me
Beauty is on every side
As I walk, I walk with Beauty.
It beauty it is begun, and in beauty it is ended.
Where and how do you walk in beauty?
This isn't an answer to your question, "Where and how do you walk in beauty", BUT, I was struck by the first line of the poem, "The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty and what the meaning". Well, actually, I could have just stopped at "its white rhetoric everywhere", which I love love love. We are being told the answers everywhere - so why are we "called back" to the questions? Ah, because these silly human brains just can't stop churning out the questions, can they? But the heart knows the answer when it sees it. My personal task is to keep that direct channel from and to the heart open, and get my brain to shut up. I wish I could find Marie Howe's poem about snow to share, but a quick search of the web shows she is not very free with her poems! (who could blame her?)
ReplyDeleteWhat is beauty? Peacefulness? Feeling alive? Feeling as one with the universe? Is there beauty in tragedy? In loss? Tell me - what is beauty?
ReplyDeleteI think if I were large enough, I would see the beauty in tragedy. I may never get there. For me, it is transcendent,with a pinch of wild joy and an expansiveness thrown in for good measure. T
ReplyDeleteI have experienced walking in the beauty of new fallen snow extending into the night. It does remind one to stop and smell the roses, not taking the beauty around you for granted.
ReplyDeleteI like the Navajo poem reminding us that beauty follows us and is always there. Since I do not walk very far, I have brought reminders of the beauty of the universe to me. I can sit and enjoy every tree, surveying the branches and noting the dead twigs that may soon fall after casting their shadows on the ground in the winter and holding a squirrel or bird recently. I follow the irregular flight of the butterfly going from one delicious meal to another. I see beauty in the children who learn about the beauty all around them and are not only fascinated by the intricate spider web, but respectful of the spider who made it. At night I can view the full moon with silhouettes of the trees surrounding it.
When I walk in beauty the fact that I walk is beautiful. My body within doesn't share all of it's miraculous secrets with the medical world. It, my body, has continued to allow me to walk, so I show my appreciation by respecting it's limitations while showing it all the beauty I can find around me. I think the energy of all of the universe is transmitted to my body through all of the beautiful things always around me.
Anonomous - I always have to use the post comment button twice, too. It takes it on the second one usually. I always check to see if it is with the other comments.
ReplyDelete