Nature's first green is gold . . .

Yesterday morning had me hearing Ponyboy Curtis 

reciting Robert Frost's poem Nothing Gold Can Stay in my mind.

Remember?  Here it is on YouTube:  Nothing Gold Can Stay

Those of you that were tweens and teens in the 80's 

must remember The Outsiders.  

Don't you?

I read S.E. Hinton's book,

and my heart entered the story like I lived it.

I spent the rest of my pre-high school years

trying to find a book that I loved as much.

I loaned my book and never got it back.

I have never purchased another copy.

I fell in love with Robert Frost's poem along with . . . 

well . . .The Outsiders.

The characters:

Ponyboy, SodaPop, Darry, Johnny, Dally . . . Cherry Valance

Especially when I saw the movie:

C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, 

Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon.

How could a 10 year old girl not love The Outsiders?

But this post is about the poem, not The Outsiders.

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Really, I love the magic hour of dawn when the sun's very first rays peek over the horizon.

Nature’s first green is gold, 
Her hardest hue to hold. 
Her early leaf’s a flower; 
But only so an hour. 
Then leaf subsides to leaf. 
So Eden sank to grief, 
So dawn goes down to day. 
Nothing gold can stay. 

Robert Frost.

It was particularly magical to see what I saw in the following photos

which are not so great of quality

as they are just remembering the experience.

Perhaps they are the first ingredients to a future painting.

I'll show you the photos

and tell you what to notice in some 

just because it's a bit difficult to see

 and then I'll tell you what it made me think of at the end.

The first thing I saw.

Two young cottontails running and playing, jumping in the air.

The sunlight was shining through their ears making them glow.

The second thing I saw.

A young fox curled up on top of the hay bales.

The third.

Our beagle, Toby.

The fourth:

a dove sitting on my driveway.

Essential presence.

Dove Spirit.

Even though you can't see them well,

all are in this photo:  the bunnies, the fox, the beagle, and the dove.

There is something exquisite about this moment.

Right here.

In the golden light, the magic hour of dawn.

There is peace among all of these creatures.

Each content.

Each oblivious to the other.

Even though we are not there yet, 

to me it was just a glimpse of the prophecy in Isaiah 11:6,

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb

The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, 

The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; 

And a little child shall lead them."

It's a picture of that magic hour.

That Holy intended existence.

Before Eden sank to grief.

And also what is to come.

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Just a beautiful moment ~ 

a glimpse of coming redemption

and Eden's previous joy.

Joy.

Grief.

Hope.

They all mix together

in God's mystery

making no sense 

in our existence 

of fallen

time

and

space.

But glimmer with possibility.