Beauty in Anything


Down at the beach she picked up shells and rocks, and
found all this wild amazement in the tiny creatures she
could see moving around in the little pools left behind
by the tide. She could sit there like that for hours,
reaching forward stable over those squatting legs to
pick up and meander her way through the bits and
pieces on the shore. Fathering had never been so
easy, he thought. We must come here more often.

Then in the garden at home she'd run back and
forwards bringing him flowers and saying with intense
excitement; "look dad, look!" And then hand him the
treasure before racing off to discover something else
like it had never been discovered before. He thought
about that; about how young children could see the
beauty in a flower. He knew that flowers were
beautiful so it didn't surprise him at all.

One day they took a trip to the scrap yard. He was
looking for an old sink to set up on the lawn out in
the back yard. He was planning to use it for cleaning
fish. It was the best way to keep the mess out of the
kitchen. She went wandering around the bits of metal
and tin while he talked to the owner for a while. They
found a suitable sink; a double that still had its fittings.
This would make it easier to run the fish leftovers into
the compost area. Precious fertiliser that, he thought,
as he went to pay the man. And then she appeared,
excited and with her hands clasped together holding
something. She opened up her hands to reveal some
rusty nuts and bolts, an old bit of twisted wire, a
mangled can opener handle, some old bottle tops
and the remains of a key ring; all bent and useless.
She looked at him with the same excitement of a sea
shell, or a rock, or a flower or a mouldy apple, or
some twisted wire and said. "look dad, look!"



Short story by Eli The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 817 times
Written on 2009-06-23 at 13:15

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nice curtains
Really good. A great observation on the wonder of children, and their ability to be fascinated with anything. Well spotted, and well composed.
2009-07-11



Taking photographs you can as a grown up sometimes regain a little bit of that excitement and of discovering beauty in anything.

Bless the kids x

Nice poetic prose, as so often with you! :)
2009-06-24