I saw the sun light up the world early one morning last week and it stopped me in my tracks. I can still remember the feeling now as I type these words. The way the light glistened and glowed. How the morning dew shone with the sun’s delicate glare. And the wild flowers! The burst of colors littering that roadside took my breath away. The gift of that Beauty has stayed with me.
And as I looked at these photos from that morning’s miracle, the words of one of my favorite poems echoed in my mind. It’s a poem I often return to, and which I’ve shared here before. I marvel at how these particular arrangement of words manages to so beautifully convey the experience of “turning aside…to a brightness.” May we have the eyes to see it.
“The Bright Field” by R. S. Thomas
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
-Eyes wide open, Chinwe
You captured the morning so beautifully, and your images are perfectly paired with the poem.
Thanks so much, Jacqui! Gotta love that morning light!
Morning light and your camera are the perfect pairing!