In a grassy meadow,

on a lush hill,

under a tree that had seen many springs before this one,

sat a boy and a girl.

 

They sat on a blanket

covered in shade and

pondered God’s creation.

 

“What is beauty?” asked the girl, “How does it affect me?”

The boy took a second to reply,

“Beauty is wonder and amazement. It affects you like the tide on the ocean.

Like a mad rush of eloquent elegance and stifled pride.”

 

“Who talks like that?” she inquired, smiling.

“I do,” he stated, “When I feel inspired.”

“What inspires you?” she asked.

“Beauty in nature,

that God hath brought to me on this day and those before.”

“What beauty?”

 

“The vibrancy of the fallen leaves in autumn.

The fresh and clean snow of winter.

The smell of budding flowers in spring.

The spray of the ocean’s tide.

The rain that pounds on the earth.

The wind that kisses my neck.

The sun that caresses my cheek.

The moon that lights my way,

without it I would be lost.”

 

They lay upon the blanket in silence, watching the clouds float by and the wind glide across the grass.

Above, in the tree, spiders sit catching bugs in their elegant nets.

The chirps of new born chicks upend the silence into a blissful joy that only Father can quite understand.

 

The boy turned to the girl and said,

“Though, when I think of the most beautiful thing,

two stand out.”

 

Number two is the cherry trees in Japan.

Once the cherries bloom,

and when the blossoms choose to fall,

their grace can not be surpassed by any ballerina.

No dance quite like the sakura bloom.

To see them flutter and dance upon the winds is quite a scene.

They twirl like dancers until the last one ends,” he paused for a second or two,

thinking about all that was said and the images waltzing in his mind,

 

“I suppose it is like a beautiful agony.

Once they land upon the world, they are nothing.

They shall never dance again and will dissipate into the earth.”

She stared in wonder.

The thought of dancing among the petals would be delightful to any.

And the thought of a beautiful agony seemed so sad.

 

‘Never to dance again.’

 

She wandered in her mind for a time,

until he broke the silence again.

“Do you want to know what number one is?” he asked.

She turned back to him, waiting, for what could possibly be more beautiful than that.

“What?” she asked.

He looked at her and his cheeks reddened,

“You.”

She smiled at him and closed the chasm between them.

They embraced.