Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder

Dedicated to those who fill my life with beauty everyday

“Not too big”
“Not too small”
“Not too short”
“Not too tall”
“Must have hair”
“Not at all”

Appearance is everything
To the young.
Even so, subtle, they are not.
How does one even explain

Why
A flash of fire in the eyes
A thoughtful tilt of the head
A steady gaze
A peek of the collarbone
A knitting of the brow
An unexpected grin
The soft crook of a neck
The gracious curve of an elbow
The way hands look as they work
The way a watch sits on a wrist
Can make one catch one’s breath?

Only with age do we learn that
Beauty is anything
But skin deep.

Beauty is talent,
Waiting to be unleashed
Waiting to be nurtured.

Beauty is spirit uncowed,
Independence of mind
Heartfelt passion.

Beauty is intelligence unbridled,
Of thought-fulness
Of ideas brewing, consolidating.

Beauty is the courage
To throw caution to the wind
To tame those demons.

Beauty is the willingness to laugh
At oneself
At the world with its idiosyncracies.

Beauty is vulnerability.
Not neediness
But moments of weakness,
Of need revealed
Despite carefully erected walls,
The posturing.

Beauty is, in the eyes of this beholder,
Life wrought large.