Tuesday, November 3, 2009

fleeting beauty


the morning roofs are painted pure white with frost.

the skies are clear as pale blue water.

with the front windows open
i can hear the rustling of leaves racing by.

there's beauty.
fleeting beauty.




autumn movement


i cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.

the field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds.

the northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind, and the old things go, not one lasts.

carl sandburg

28 comments:

Jenny Stevning said...

"...i cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts." I adore this line! There is a picture book you must check out. It is mostly wordless. (my favorite kind of story...) The book is called The Red Tree by Shaun Tan. All that you have shared of Autumn makes me think of it. Namo.

Margaret Pangert said...

Carl Sandburg knew your golden trail in the woods: the field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck... Not one lasts. Change is the only certainty. As you said : fleeting beauty. I love your birds in flight. They remind me of the birds on a wire. Very moving and elegiac today, Steven. Beautiful.

Rachel Fenton said...

I like the geese in the last picture, they remind me of loose stiches in a well loved much worn shirt: part torn when my arms were hugged heavy by tired babies.

Tess Kincaid said...

I just read this beautiful Sandburg piece last week and bookmarked it to post. You beat me to it, Steven! Love-love-love it!!

steven said...

well there you go jenny - see i love shaun tan's work but i haven't read/seen that one yet so thankyou for pointing me in that direction. have a peaceful day. steven

steven said...

hi margaret, thankyou for that. change is a certainty and i'm good with that. there are details of life that emerge that i hold in my head or in my eyes or in my heart. in that way they don't change but in their own lives they continue to move on. have a peaceful day. steven

steven said...

hi rachel, it's the only photograph i've managed to get of the local geese. i love the connection to stitches in well-worn clothing. i miss my hugged heavy aching arms. but i do have the whole body wrap-around love of big children. have a lovely day. steven

Pauline said...

those elusive geese! wonderful shot. and though nothing lasts and everything changes, the beauty is there for the noticing...

steven said...

willow it is really good writing isn't it!!!! please use it - we put our own understanding on verything we do!! have a lovely day at the manor. steven

steven said...

hello pauline - yes!!! there they are - well some of them anyway. beauty is the gateway to the real riches that lie beneath the surface of our knowing. have a lovely day. steven

Barry said...

The first frost of the season, truly marks the end of Fall and the beginning of winter.

The Sandburg poem was excellent, Steven, highly evocative, as is your last photo of the geese.

Golden West said...

What a lovely way to start the day, Steven - autumn taking wing.

Reya Mellicker said...

What is more beautiful - your poem or Carl Sandburg's?? Both of them exquisite.

Everything is fleeting. With sadness, ugliness or evil, that's a good thing. But for beauty? Man, it's tough to bear how quickly it floats past!

Verily I go. said...

Always wondrous beauty you share. Thanks Steven, I love this.

Anonymous said...

The poem was a reminder and excellent to read.

I was surprised that you were not a nearly - perfect young man in church. lol

ellen abbott said...

Really great pictures steven. especially the one of the leaves.

Chris Wolf said...

yikes, I love that I'm finding this poem everywhere I go! Nice to meet you Steven.

Tom Bailey said...

I like your blog and the way that you write. The opening line was my favorite part of this work.

I connected to you through another blog.

steven said...

hi barry - i'm riding with my big winter gloves on now. my dad bought them for me fourty five minutes before he flew away. they are rated to fourty five below zero. the coldest i've ridden in is minus twenty-eight. the frost is fragile but it's showing up more frequently as the early edges of winter are making themselves felt. have a peaceful evening. steven

steven said...

hello golden west - i was so glad to get the picture. it was like a final parting wave as my sweetheart leaves on the train for . . . . . somewhere warm! have a lovely evening out there. steven

steven said...

reya mellicker!!!! beauty is the gateway to the real riches that lie beneath the surface. i find that as i grow older i still appreciate physical beauty but there's something very much more important about presence. have a sweet dc evening. steven

steven said...

oh verily - i haven't seen you for a while - lovely to see you visiting!!!! thankyou for your kind comment. te world is a beautiful place - on the surface and deep inside. have a lovely evening. steven

steven said...

oh abe - i was the grandson of a methodist minister and a methodist lay-preacher so i had plenty of opportunity for monkey business. guitarists call it honing their chops. i call it gaining life skills. how to break the rules without getting caught!!!! nice comment buddy. steven

steven said...

ellen thankyou. steven

steven said...

hey chris thanks for dropping in. i love the sandburg poem. i'm not surprised that it's opping up everywhere. it's got a nice soft edge to it. have a peaceful evening. steven

steven said...

hey tom - thankyou. i'm glad you found your way here. i have some very cool, smart, intelligent creative people whom i follow and many very cool, smart, intelligent creative people who follow this blog. i'm glad you're along for the journey. steven

Stacey J. Warner said...

once again, a bit of respite here on your blog.

thank you

much love

steven said...

hi stacey - i visted here myself this evening for a bit of peace. a sillycrazy day - lots of goodness and then also lots of unnecessarily challenging stuff! ahhh stuff!!!! steven