David Whyte was interviewed on the Crazy Good Turns podcast, and he said poems often invite a deeper understanding to life’s questions.
He gave an example from David Ignatow’s poem, “Three in Transition”
I wish I understood the beauty in leaves falling. To whom are we beautiful as we go?
When I reflected on the first line, it made me think of my love of autumn and the leaves that artfully fall to the ground.
And then the poem asks, “To whom are we beautiful as we go”?
My understanding is that David Ignatow is talking about death when he says “as we go” but when I first heard those words (before reading a commentary about the poem), I interpreted them to be, “as we go” …about our lives, “as we”… be who we are…
We often see others and certainly nature as beautiful, so this is an interesting question to ponder – “To whom are we beautiful?”
If we delight in falling leaves, how is it that we see so little color and beauty in our wonderfully made selves?
I think this question prompts us to remember that each of us has people in our lives to whom we are beautiful.
Beautiful in who we are…
Beautiful in how we touch their lives…
Beautiful in how we make them feel…
Beautiful for being … here.
Photo by Anthony Lee on Unsplash
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