All Things Brief and Beautiful

A love letter to everything fleeting and wonderful.

“People are like grass”, wrote the prophet Isaiah, some 2500 years ago. “Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field.”

And yet, I still see beauty in the life of my mother in her old age. Maybe it was less about the external appearance, and simply that life itself is both beautiful, and fleeting.

It seems everything lovely this side of heaven is also temporary. Everything changes. Maybe that’s why we take pictures. To capture every precious moment. But while it helps us look back at it, we will never really have it. Don’t let that stop you though, please, take all the pictures your storage will hold.

This fading, momentary beauty pours into our everyday like a river. Like the morning sun creeping through the gaps in the curtain. Ah, there it is again. But really, the sun is always there. It’s our planet in its dizzy dance that hides its face from the light every day. They say it will burn up eventually. But for now, we have it, and I’m always happy to see it. (It doesn’t happen often in Manchester).

Beauty still shows itself in a multitude of ways. The flowers from a friend on the mantelpiece. That new Bon Iver song. The person that held the door for me this morning. The taste of the Pho Bo I had for lunch. That feeling when your playlist hits just the right song at just the right time and it starts feeling like a soundtrack to a movie about your life. Holding hands. The little notifications on my phone screen of well-wishes from friends. The scarf that brought that little extra warmth on my walk.

Even as I sit writing here. It’s the latte art beside me, the well-watered plants, the girl reading in the window seat, the couple sitting on the same side of the table and sharing a pastry. The soft sounds of Caoilfhionn Rose in my AirPods. (I still don’t know how the music gets in there, without wires?? Please don’t explain it. I enjoy the mystery). The interior of this space designed by somebody, somewhere. And still, all of it, temporary. This room will probably be turned into a clothing store one day, or a gym, or a bakery. Maybe the whole building will be knocked down to make way for a park? Or be reclaimed, in time, by wild weeds and animals.

All things brief and beautiful,
All moments great and small,
Somehow sad and wonderful,
I’ve grown to love them all.

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A day once dawned, and it was beautiful,
A day once dawned from the ground.

Nick Drake - From The Morning

This song came on my shuffle while I was writing, and it seemed to sum things up perfectly. Isn’t it just like a song to do that? Nick Drake, in his all-too-brief life gave us a gift through this 2 and a half minute song.