I see spreading before me
what seems endless beauty
differing hues of green
and cedars and birches
and blue water with defiant islands
with laughing children
and gulls that share their laughs with them
With hikes in the woods to the shores
with rocks to climb
but there is more
 
almost unnoticed and hiding in the grass
and along the paths near shore
tiny blooms of wild strawberries stand in the sun
nearly buried in the vast beauty around them
and thereby almost missed
beauty requiring a second, closer gaze
and greater than their size
resolute they stand
quietly
joyfully
 
By their stance I am reminded
that beauty often requires a second look
and patience
else we miss seeing it
affirming it
rejoicing in it
 
Beauty is not often so flagrant
as an outstretched sea or meadow
or mountains draped in clouds
but requires a closer, second look
or more with patience
filling everyone
it is sometimes buried behind other things
but it is there
if looked for with patience and a second gaze
like wild strawberries along the path.


© by Timothy McQuade.
Used with the author’s permission.