Where else would I want to be, on my #BeautifulSunday hosted by @Ace108? I am strolling through the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, filled with the sense of renewal, symbolic with Cherry Blossom. Their beauty is simple, yet, it takes my breath away.
The Japanese Pagoda is one of the smallest monuments in Washington DC, and it's very easy to miss. It's nestled in amongst the trees on the western bank of the Tidal Basin, immediately adjacent to the southern entrance of the FDR Memorial.
It can be especially hard to find if you're looking for something, well, grander. Pagoda is one of those words that are applied in English (though often not in their native languages) to anything from a small person-sized pillar to a massive complex of buildings in a temple. This one is definitely on the small end of the scale. It's a nine-tiered structure about 10-11 feet high.
At first, it might seem a somewhat random place to put a Japanese Pagoda. But if you visit at the right time in the spring you'll see why it's there. It's right in the middle of the thousands of cherry blossoms that were, themselves, originally gifts from Japan.
It might look relatively plain, but like the Japanese Lantern, not far away, it's actually very old, dating back to around 1600. It's made of 3,800 pounds of granite.
It was given to Washington DC by the mayor of Yokohama in 1957, but when it arrived it in five crates, it didn't include any instructions on how to reassemble it. Area experts from the Library of Congress and elsewhere were eventually able to assemble it. source
I seem to migrate towards the beauty of the day. The Washington Monument is in the background and this is my usual walk on any given day. I feel fortunate to have this at my disposal, and I will freely admit that I take advantage of that fact. There is no other place in the States like it.
This is such an incredibly beautiful sight. Who has not been moved by the peaceful beauty of a moment?
A baby sleeping in a crib? Unspoken words between a couple? Happening upon a butterfly that was dancing in the wind... which totally interrupts life - adding a lightness and spontaneous beauty that seems to stop time for a brief second or three.
Who hasn't been moved?
The little violas were planted just off the path of the Tidal Basin. What happy little faces they have! It is tiny moments like this, off the path and eclectic and I think of @c0ff33a and his tag #SublimeSunday, where all your random pictures fit perfectly. So I raise my cup to you, my coffee meister!
There is peace in my soul, as I wander aimlessly, taking in the beauty of the day, my place of quiet and tranquility. The seeds of gladness are fully rooted. Weed and prune where necessary.... then get ready to start blooming all over again. I took my time and walked among the beauty of the blossoms, making small talk with people along the way. The blooms are in peak, which means that they are full and abundant and some are even raining down on people. It was a wonderful morning from Washington, DC! Have a #BeautifulSunday!! Sublimely so!
Oh, the beauty of the flower!
The flower has its expression, which it gives over freely and selflessly, until the day it dies. It never feels it should have done more. It never feels inadequate. It never feels it has missed the life worth living. It just radiates beauty, perfume, and love.
And it never thinks to itself, “I have to radiate beauty, perfume, and love.” It just does. That is the inevitability of its nature.
It will give freely, until the day it dies.
If human beings could live as the flower, for just one day, this world would be transformed forever...and ever.
A flower. There must always be a flower to color my world.
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Thank you for visiting my post 💖 Because of you, I come back to post again and again, I am encouraged by you, for the time you take to visit, comment or even upvote. For all of these reasons, I am eternally grateful. Don't ever forget what a wonderful world we live in, people. Let's hold hands around the globe and make this earth really spin. Some days, it is not as easy to see, how wonderful it really is. Kindness counts. Wherever you go, whatever you do.
I always post this poem down at the bottom of my posts. It is one that has become so near and dear to my heart. I only post the most famous part of it, but, wanted to post it in its entirety today.
they set my aunts house on fire
i cried the way women on tv do
folding at the middle
like a five pound note.
i called the boy who use to love me
tried to ‘okay’ my voice
i said hello
he said warsan, what’s wrong, what’s happened?
i’ve been praying,
and these are what my prayers look like;
dear god
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.
later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered,
"where does it hurt?"
it answered,
"everywhere"
"everywhere"
"everywhere"
warsan shire
