What is Beauty?

It is the curtain-
The way it flows,
Cream and shadow,
Softening the window frame.

It is the curtain
And the window itself
That seems to reach out
It’s long arms
To gather in the light
That bathes this room.

It is the window and light
And branch of the redbud-
The brevity of its brilliant bloom
As it peeks around the frame.

It is the branch
And the sky,
Dark, foreboding clouds moving in,
Outlined by the glow of a hidden sun,
Casting an eerie radiance on the scene.

It is the sky and the clouds
And the white frame house in the distance,
Small and undistinguished,
Now illuminated
In a moment of vibrancy.

It is the house
And the crazy sky
And the clouds aglow.
It is the redbud bloom
And the window,
Gathering light.
But first and last,
It is the curtain,
Now fluttering gently,
As the weather begins to turn.

By Maria Brady-Smith

Photo by Mike Smith