The Beauty of the World--The Pirate Queen Turns Contemplative

I just recently got home from yet another long, mind clearing jaunt in my car (with a brief stop to do some roller blading as well) and had some interesting thoughts...

I was parked near a mountain, watching the sunset through the trees... The clouds were turning the color of flaming embers and I wondered...

What exactly is beauty? I mean, sure, the poets have been talking about it since the dawn of language... but really... what is it?

I came to the following "conclusions" on Beauty...

1. Beauty is in struggle... it's anticipation, not acquisition...it's in the moment of creation, the "I've almost got it" not in the solution.

2. Beauty is what you see in the eyes of a "friend"... Someone who "gets it."

3. Beauty is in follow-through... promises that are kept, not just given out with a casual word... when people do what they say they will.

4. Beauty is in generosity of spirit and selflessness... Caring, even when you know chances are "fair to middlin'" that no one will notice.

Sorry for the semi-crappy-philosophical-wanna-be musings... The Pirate Queen is in a contemplative mood this fine evening.

But I will say this...for once the ride really did actually calm me down... And every now and again, philosophical musings please me...

In fact, I frequently force both my scurvy pirate lackeys and my cabin boys to listen to my ramblings... Mostly they stare blankly at me but once in a while I see a flash of recognition that pleases me immensely.

That's real beauty baby.

I'm just sayin'.

What follows is a poem I personally love by Gerard Manly Hopkins... Though I am not a Christian, I have always found his sentiment to be particularly beautiful... The idea that beauty is not just about celebrities and women on magazine covers with perfect skin... Beautiful. (NOTE: G.M. Hopkins was writing in the Victorian Era in England...so he wouldn't have had any idea who Paris Hilton or Britany Spears are... LUCKY HIM).

See what I mean? Do you get it?

If so, and you actually read this far...

I love you... You're beautiful. :)

P.Q.


"Pied Beauty"

GLORY be to God for dappled things-
For skies fo couple-colour as a brinded cow:
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and piece-fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.