"Beauty is the harvest of presence."
—David Whyte
What is beauty?
It’s the worn middle of your grandfather’s desk.
Snow in the spring.
A mother on a long flight.
A sip of something warm in the morning.
Walking through the leaves in the fall.
A child laughing.
My child smiling, finding their strength.
Sitting by the fire with her, the wave of hair falling across her left eye.
The green light when you need it.
An old book. A new book. A sharp pencil.
Standing with a friend under the soft shelter of a building, out of the hard wind.
The taste of salt in the air.
Opening your eyes underwater.
These are the real things.
Like the imperfect apple tree that has survived more winters than I have.
A cold creek.
Open roads.
Puffy clouds on a hot summer day.
A clear sky stretched wide over the desert.
Being forgiven.
Finding the maturity to forgive.
The imperfect friend who always shows up, wrinkles and all.
That’s beauty to me — the real things.
Beauty is truth.
It’s witnessing.
Recognizing.
Receiving.
Connecting.
Accepting.
Struggling.
Walking slowly through reality.
If beauty is truth, maybe the opposite of beauty is pretending —
the hollow things, the times we perform and rush instead of simply being.
Life is a series of moments,
and all it takes is a moment to be beautiful.
I’m still thinking about this.
Thought I’d share.
Take care. Be good.
—Kelly
Share this post