Beauty Be Wasted Not on Me
abigailjoystevens.substack.com
May not an instance of beauty be wasted on me
Because I was too preoccupied standardizing goodness
Using my own malnourished understanding.
May I not misjudge cacophonous children's games,
Wasteful experimentation, and fights to get more
Because I am parsing the day into duty and spoiled delights.
May their neediness, sleeplessness, and incompleteness
Not feel like a robbery but an awakening to the fleeting now,
Corporeal and tender, like my efforts are to God.
May I not mistake what is Yours to be mine,
Carrying what I cannot and discerning as if I must
For when I labor, I rest not, delight nor see;
And all of God's beauty is wasted on me.
Someone penned a similar declaration... “take time to smell the roses” as my poetry reading jewish mother who taught me about life in proverbs and famous lines from poem by which she had been guided through life, would often remind me... (was that a run-on sentence?). You appear to be way ahead of many others in your prioritization of beauty’s value, (if i am reading your thoughts correctly. A few years ago i came to the conclusion that beauty claims an extremely high priority in Our Creator’s heart and mind and so, also should I in mine, and that of my wife’s. Soooo, i have a new appreciation of her desire to have a house and yard that reflects her desire to live in the presence of beauty. Absolutely nothing vane about loving beauty for beauty’s sake.
Love the last stanza.