BEAUTIFUL THINGS
‘Beautiful Things’ is a poem written by American poet
Ellen P. Allerton who was born on 17th October 1835 and passed away
on 31st August 1893. She has her own definition of beauty which does
not lie in superficial outer appearances but deeply inward realities.
According to many enlightened seers, nothing is ugly
in this world. Ugliness and beauty are
the two sides of the same coin. God is the creator of all that exists in this
world. How can we blame Him for creating
ugliness?
Let us recall the words of the Ancient Mariner in the “The
Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” written by the English poet S.T.Coleridge (1772-1834). This hero of the
poem finds relief from his curse only by appreciating the beauty of the proverbial
poisonous creatures like snakes: He says:
Beyond the shadow of the ship, I watch’d the water
snakes: They moved in tracks of shining white, and when they rear’d, the elfish
light fell off in hoary flakes. Within
the shadow of the ship I watch’d their rich attire; blue, glossy green, and velvet
black, they coil’d and swam; and every track, was a flash of golden fire. O happy living things! No tongue their beauty
might declare : a spring of love gush’d from my heart, and I blessed them unaware:
sure my kind saint took pity on me, and I bless’d them unaware.
In her poem ‘BEAUTIFUL THINGS’ Ellen P.Allerton tells
the readers which faces, eyes, lips, hands, feet, shoulders, lives, twilight
and graves are really beautiful. What
are their characteristics in brief. The whole poem which is one of the most
favourite poems of the lovers of English
poetry runs as follows:
“BEAUTIFUL faces are
those that wear---
It matters little if
dark or fair---
Whole-souled honesty
printed there.
Beautiful eyes are
those that show,
Like crystal panes where
hearthfires glow,
Beautiful thoughts burn below.
Beautiful lips are
those whose words
Leap from the heart
like songs of birds,
Yet whose utterance
prudence girds.
Beautiful hands are
those that do
Work that is hones t
and brave true,
Moment by moment the
long day through.
Beautiful feet are
those that go
On kindly ministries to
and fro,
Down lowliest ways, if
God wills it so.
Beautiful shoulders are
those that bear
Ceaseless burdens of
homely care
With patient grace and
daily prayer.
Beautiful eyes are
those that bless
Silent rivers of
happiness,
Whose hidden fountains
but few may guess.
Beautiful twilight at
set of sun,
Beautiful goal with
race well won,
Beautiful rest with
work well done.
Beautiful graves where
grasses creep,
Where brown leaves
fall, where drifts lie deep
Over worn-out hands
----oh! Beautiful sleep!”
26th February 2020 G.R.KANWAL
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