I love the written word. It amazes me how there are people who can paint incredible pictures with words. That’s one of the reasons I love J.R.R. Tolkien so much. He has created whole worlds with words, worlds that I can see and hear and just about touch. I think it is a special skill indeed.
Two of my favourite quotes do just that:
“May your life be like a wildflower growing freely in the beauty and joy of each new day.”
“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the wind longs to play in your hair.”
Can’t you just see it?… Feel it?…
I love it!
In high school and college I would write poems – just for fun. I’ve never submitted anything for publication but I enjoy doing it just the same. Although not consistently I write in a personal journal and on my blog. So I thought it would be fun to write a poem for today’s “fun” thing. I’ve been thinking about the word “wonder” a lot lately. Now that my life has slowed down (since I quit my full-time job in May) I feel I am in a much better space (physically, mentally, emotionally) to actually appreciate ‘life’ happening around me. At times it fills me with wonder.
Here goes…
“Wonder”
Wonder…fascination…awe…
To delight in all the beautiful things of this earth
To recognize them, to say “I see you” and “I am here, present in this moment”
It can be simple,
the strong sweet scent of a wild rose in bloom,
the clouds painting the sky in giant cottonballs,
the crunch of snow on a brisk cold day
There is so much beauty all around us,
the laughter of a child
a hug from a friend
Let me never lose my sense of wonder
the rapture of a kiss
the thrill of a sunset
the wonder of each new day
How quickly the world passes us by, how relentlessly we are dragged along with it
When do we have time to stop?… To smell?… To see?… To touch?… To hear?…
How can we when all we see and hear is a blur, white noise in the swirling vortex of our lives?
What have our lives become?
we eat, we scurry, we sleep…over and over and over again
Stop!
I want quiet in my soul
How starved I am…for stillness
I must regain perspective
Life is not a matter of making it through each day
There is so much more
If I could stop, if I could wake up from this stupor of frenzy, if I could open my eyes and see…and hear…and taste…and touch…and smell…
What would I experience?
What have I missed?
The awe…the fascination…the wonder
(a poem by Carol Tebay, December 2012)