Wednesday, October 26, 2011

SWIFT THINGS ARE BEAUTIFUL

Having spent this past week in the woods - literally - I thought this poem appropriate. My brother in law and his wife live about 14 miles outside of Traverse City, in the middle of the beautiful Michigan woods. We saw some swift things while I was there, mostly deer. Anything slow got run over and thankfully we didn't see a lot of those. The Boardman, so beautiful, still runs along their land and brought back wonderful memories of tubing down the Boardman, back when our kids were all still home and we did crazier things than I do now (not much crazier, but crazy nonetheless!).

SWIFT THINGS ARE BEAUTIFUL

By Elizabeth Coatsworth

Swift things are beautiful:
Swallows and deer,
And lightning that falls
Bright-veined and clear,
Rivers and meteors,
Wind in the wheat,
The strong-withered horse,
The runner’s sure feet.

And slow things are beautiful:
The closing of day,
The pause of the wave
That curves downward to spray,
The ember that crumbles,
The opening flower,
And the ox that moves on
In the quiet of power.

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