What is Beauty?

You would think that writing something about a word as common as "Beauty" would be a piece of cake. Easy as pie. But after thinking about the word and attempting to digest it, I came up with an uninspiring nothing. And even after digging up my trusty dictionary, I ending up coming to a pretty generic conclusion: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

And then that got me thinking.

Have you ever heard the same phrase repeated so often that you become numb to its deeper meaning? I mean, if you think about it, the whole reason a phrase becomes so popular in the first place is because it originally caused a great deal of brainwave commotion.

Beauty really is subjective, or as the wise one said, "in the eye of the beholder." And so, with my generic, but oh-so true conclusion, I let go of my writing inhibitions and began to list those things which are most beautiful in my very own eyes.

For example, I thought of the wrinkles on an old woman's face - tell tale signs of eyes crinkling with laughter and lips that have kissed a lover, a mother, a father, a child and a friend. I thought of bubbles floating through a soft green field speckled with dainty whites and purples. I also thought of those frisky get-away sprinkles that happily dance across the counter with a flash of color, dodging the mound of whipped frosting atop a cupcake.

What came to mind was the sound of my grandfather's deep and tender voice as he read the Christmas story early on that special family day. I recalled those early childhood moments where I flirted with the edge of the forest in search of the most vibrant, juicy berries. I thought of how each plucked fruit burst against my palette and always seemed to quenched my thirst-pangs.

I thought of that flicker in a persons eye when you know they're thinking the exact same thing as you. Or the way you feel when your mother holds you in her arms after a long cry. It's beautiful how that feeling can only be produced in that situation.

Beauty could also be the way a laugh sort of creeps up on you in the most inopportune moments. Those are the laughs that feel the best sometimes, I think.

Beauty is a book you couldn't put down - the one that you thought you might regret staying up late to read but then didn't regret at all. You know those books. Those are the ones you walk by in the library and can't help but run your fingertip down the binding as all the words come rushing into the room and surround you in a cloud of imagination.

Beauty is also the warm light that cascades through your window pane and illuminates everything so that each hue in the room, no matter how dull before, is more brilliant than you ever thought possible. It's that intoxicating feeling that ripples through your body when you're with your soul mate. The natural blush that makes a woman glow from top to bottom after an orgasm.

It's the scent of honeysuckle drifting by your nostrils and the moment you sink into a warm bath. It's the feeling of freedom you get when all your muscles move and shift around to the sound of a familiar tune.