The Bright Field, Art 365-16-46

One of the books recommended by Jennifer Edwards for A Pilgim’s Draw is The Word in the Wilderness by Malcolm Guite.  The book is a gem  filled with lovely poems for Lent.  The reading for Sunday was R. S. Thomas’ poem, ‘The Bright Field’.  Guite uses this poem to illustrate the notion of clearing out, giving up things to make room for even better things to come into our lives.  My odd ball artist’s brain got a completely different ‘feeling’ from Thomas’ poem and the snippet the author included from Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Aurora Leigh:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

I was struck by how artists SEE the world.  We tend to look deeper and longer seeing the little things others miss, the glory in the mundane.  Both poems bring to mind the opening of William Blake’s ‘To See a World…’:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

How many people would stand around in the chill air drawing trail side weeds?  Who takes the time to see the treasure in the field?

Remember, faith works!