Category: Poetry

Beauty is looking into the eyes of a baby only to discover that s/he is smiling back at you. It’s watching a person carry themselves so lightly, so gently, you think they’re an angel.

I believe that beauty reflects both strength and vulnerability, and that sometimes shadow, whether in terms of light, sound or emotion is necessary to enhance the vibrancy of the things we find beautiful. Just as the beauty of life lies in its mystery, so the mystery of life lies in its beauty. In art we call this Chiaroscuro.

Beauty is a celebration of concinnity. At first blush it makes us cognizant of nature’s bounty. This can be in the form of an image or an idea. Beauty is a blessing and as with all divine sanctions it makes us worthy of ourselves and our whereabouts.

Now I put my finger on one point in a line that extends to starbursts and to the green past of wild earth. Grace does no harm.

If we cannot define beauty, perhaps on occasion we may point to its embodiment. The most beautiful architectural interior I have ever seen is in the Pazzi Chapel in the first cloister of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.