BEAUTY

 

BEAUTY

In the following poem called ‘Beauty’ the English poet and writer John Edward Masefield (1878-1967) who was also Poet Laureate from 1930 to 1967 describes the exemplary beauty of dawn and sunset, the beauty of windy hills, solemn beauty of Spanish tunes, the April beauty of Daffodil flowers, the beauty of singing blossoms and chanting sea, the beauty of strange lands under the arched white sails of a ship, but has not found any one of them comparable to the loveliest things of beauty God has shown to him in his beloved’s voice, hair, eyes and the sweet  red curve of her lips.

Beauty, as it is said in a proverb, lies in the eyes of the beholder. Here, the human beauty of a ladylove is described by her lover as incomparable to any other object.   

Masefield’s poem runs  as follows:

I have seen dawn and sunset on moors and windy hills

Coming in solemn beauty like slow old tunes of Spain :  

I have seen the lady April bringing the daffodils,

Bringing the springing grass and the soft warm April rain.

I have heard the song of the blossoms and the old chant of the sea,

And seen strange lands from under the arched white sales of ships;

But the loveliest things of beauty God ever has showed to me,

Are her voice, and her hair, and eyes, and the dear red curve of her lips.

                                                *******

G. R. Kanwal

13^th September 2023