Joy of Living
ON THE JOY of LIVING by Henri Frederic Amiel ( 1821-1881) (Swiss philosopher and Poet)
A morning of intoxicating beauty, fresh as the feelings of sixteen, and crowned with flowers like a bride. The poetry of youth, of innocence, and of love,overflowed my soul.
Even to the light mist hovering over the plain, image of that tender modesty which veils the features and shrouds in mystery the inmost thoughts.
The matin bells ringing in some distant village harmonized marvelously with the hymn of nature. "Pray" they said, " and love! "
They recalled to me the accent of Haydn; there was in them and in the landscape a childlike joyousness, a naive gratitude, a radiant heavenly joy innocent of pain and sin.
Feeling is the admiration of the angels, the eternal food of cherubim and seraphim.
I have not yet felt the air so pure, so life-giving, so ethereal.
To breathe is a beatitude.
One understands the delights of a bird's existence. That emancipation from all encumbering weight.
That luminous and empyrean life, floating in blue space.
Passing from one horizon to another with a stroke of the wing.
One must have a great deal of air below one .
Before one can be conscious of such inner freedom as this.
Such lightness of the whole being.
Every element has its poetry.
But the poetry of air is liberty.
"Kindness is gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us." Henri Frederic Amiel
"The best path through life is the highway."
"On the Joy of Living" taking, in excerpts from "1000 Beautiful Things" (1948)
Photographs 2017
Great bird photos!
ReplyDelete