Monthly Archives: November 2021

In the Wilderness

In the wilderness, the word itself is beautiful music
from summer cricket songs to moth’s wing flicks,
cool nights bedecked with planets and radiant stars
far and away from the cacophony of rumbling cars.

In the wilderness, the rolling river bends and flows,
trickling down to all the places that silence goes.
Rhythmic lapping, gentle beneath a splintered dock,
crashing, pounding breakers on the craggy rocks.

In the wilderness, the poison ivy and honeysuckle creep
where young rabbits romp and the black bears sleep.
The full moon rises, proud in its golden glorious glow,
waiting for insolent clouds to crown with gauzy halo.

In the wilderness, my heart is glad and fills with peace,
my head cradled by the grass, soft as lamb’s fleece.
From the dew-kissed wildflowers to the blue skies fair,
there is beauty, heartbreaking beauty, everywhere.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2021
Originally written May 27, 2015

This poem is posted for the Instagram group @hergrowthcollective. The topic for 11/18/2021 was “beauty.” Since I had just written a poem on the beauty of nature last week, I decided to look back into my archives for another poem written on beauty. This is a repost of a poem I wrote back in 2015 that incorporated my two favorite Edward Abbey quotes:

“Wilderness, the word itself is beautiful music.”
“There is beauty, heartbreaking beauty, everywhere.”

Of course, there is a recurrent theme here for me, the beauty of nature. If you know me, that’s no surprise. Indeed, but there is beauty everywhere IF we choose to take the time to experience it. I believe that beauty invokes more than just sight – rather, it invokes all of the senses. Therefore, experiencing the beauty of something can be felt on an emotional level if you will allow it. It is both external and internal, but you must open your heart and soul to feel it.

I see beauty in my grandchildren’s eyes, I hear beauty in the chords of a piano concerto, I taste beauty in a freshly cut orange, I smell beauty in the Blue Spruce pine needles, I feel beauty in the warm ocean breeze upon my skin. Mere memories of these beautiful things, or experiencing it in the now will transport you to a place of zen and calm the unrest in your mind. It can be a meditative and transcendent experience.

Take a few minutes at the beginning of each day to reflect upon the beauty in your life. Close your eyes, still your mind and focus on your breathing. Then think of the beauty you have experienced, breathe and be grateful.

Xoxo Colleen

Mood: Introspective
Inspiration: “Tomorrow’s Song” – Ólafur Arnalds
Ólafur Arnalds