"The essence of all beautiful art ...."

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Bird Nesting

O wonderful! In sport we climbed the tree,

Eager and laughing, as in all our play,

To see the eggs where, in the nest, they lay,

But silent fell before the mystery.

For, one brief moment there, we understood

By sudden sympathy too fine for words

That we were sisters to the brooding birds

And part, with them, in God’s great motherhood.

Ellis Parker Butler