Glory be to God for dappled things....

And for the second installment of my "Because I Was Once an English Major" series, I bring you, without further ado,

Pied Beauty (1918)

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

GLORY be to God for dappled things—

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise Him.

*************

I love this poem. It reminds me of fall and all the colors and textures you find during this season, my favorite of all the seasons. I also love this poem because the poet is praising God for simple, beautiful things that He created and surrounded us with every day, which we so often miss because of the constant bombardment of artificial distractions surrounding us.

I love that we worship a God with boundless creativity that we can see in the changing seasons, the variety of plant and animal life in the world around us, the uniqueness of each person. The leaves are starting to change here in East Tennessee... one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen. I love that that was designed by a God who does NOT change, but is always faithful, true, holy, and merciful to all who seek Him.  

Josh (my husband) found this egg last year in an abandoned nest at the beginning of fall.... It reminds me of this poem - it's a dappled thing - a tiny, delicate white shell speckled over with tiny brown dots. The nest was beautiful too - a little piece of art, made by a little birdy. I saved the nest and the egg - they're in my studio now - a little bit of inspiration. God is so creative.

"Abandoned Nest" by Beth Stone

Watercolor on Arches 140lb CP

If you like this print, you can purchase it a couple of different ways:

Shop for greeting cards and several sizes of prints HERE. (Click on "Art Prints" to find this image.)

Shop for 8"x10" prints or handcrafted jewelry featuring this piece HERE.

What dappled things have you been enjoying lately?

P.S. Still time to enter my birthday giveaway! Click HERE to enter!