Beauty

I've recently been re-enjoying a small volume of poetry I purchased in college, One Hundred and One Famous Poems published in 1929. It contains some of my most favorite poets and their works. John Greenleaf Whittier's Barefoot Boy; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Children's Hour, Psalm of Life and The Day is Done; Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman; Elizabeth Barrett Browning's My Kate; Rudyard Kipling's If, among others. I also love the poetry of Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Tennyson and Shakespeare.

I'm so thankful for the gifts of these artists to unlock emotion and ideas through their beautiful words. I wish I could capture my thoughts and feelings as eloquently. Here's some of Longfellow's The Children's Hour, a delightful and deep poem.

I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.

And there I will keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the wall shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away.

He expresses so well how I feel about my babies. Even when they've grown and gone they will be tucked deep into my heart. I love borrowing the words of poets to express and explore my own feelings.

The world around us can be so ugly and scared with pain. I feel it's to our benefit to dwell on beauty. Surely we can best do that by dwelling on God's words of hope and love to us. However, there are also so many other things that enrich our lives with beauty; poetry, nature, music, art and certainly relationships. So today let's purpose to include the enjoyment of something uplifting and beautiful in our day to enrich our hearts.

Jenny Lake, Jackson WY