Learn Beauty

Dwell when you can in beauty.
Take pleasure in
the glory here availing on earth.
Joy is no sin,
but may require collaboration.

Visit showings of paintings and sculpture,
play records, sing.
Keep human beauty alive
above everything.

Read poems aloud,
those words that reach out and touch you.
Quote lines you love.

Treat words as friends.
Consider each word a wonder.
Be sure to heed
words heard, even so, in silence.

Respect all need.
As a warrior, insist on peace.
Above all, be kind to animals
that have no words,
but respond to a hand’s caress.

Dig flowerbeds, grow gardens, feed birds.
Select as plants
those favored by butterflies and bees.
For shade, plant trees.

Awake at first light of morning,
cease thought and listen
to feathered singers of psalms.

At noon, say prayers
and, then, as darkness is falling,
hum evensong.

It’s alright to be melancholy,
one more day gone;
but before you stray
down the convolute corridors of sleep,
say Thank You again for your day,
simply: Amen.