Today I am declaring this year’s season of amaryllis beauty and photo play over, so I say
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
or in other words, “Thus passes the worldly glory.” I am sad to see the flowers all faded and dry. But to be truthful, I am also running out of enthusiasm for photographing them after over a month of almost daily practice doing so.
Earlier this week we had a rainy day—in early February!—that felt so weird for this time of year. In fact the winter we have been having is feeling wrong to many Minnesotans. Though I personally am not missing the snow and bitter cold days, many are. And the feeling that this is just not right floats through many conversations and also through my mind.
The view from my living room window. I manually focused my camera on the raindrops on the window and let everything else fall into blur.
I keep telling myself that these thoughts and worries that meander through my mind about climate, getting older, the world, and more are simply thoughts, nothing more. But I feel the weight of this season and an echo of loss as I gaze out my window at the strangely barren landscape.
I discovered an Emily Dickinson poem this morning titled ‘Sic transit gloria mundi,’ but I’ll leave it to you to look it up if you are interested. It’s one of her earlier poems and didn’t really speak to me. But here’s one of her poems that does speak to me that I found for the first time this morning.
This World is not Conclusion.
A Species stands beyond –
Invisible, as Music –
But positive, as Sound –
It beckons, and it baffles –
Philosophy – don’t know –
And through a Riddle, at the last –
Sagacity, must go –
To guess it, puzzles scholars –
To gain it, Men have borne
Contempt of Generations
And Crucifixion, shown –Faith slips – and laughs, and rallies –
Blushes, if any see –
Plucks at a twig of Evidence –
And asks a Vane, the way –
Much Gesture, from the Pulpit –
Strong Hallelujahs roll –
Narcotics cannot still the Tooth
That nibbles at the soul –— Emily Dickinson
There is more to lived experience than the world around us. Though we may not be able to grasp the greater reality all we need to do is contemplate a starry sky at night to feel the wonder and mystery of it all.
May you find wonder, mystery, and beauty in your life.
May you walk in beauty.
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