SCENES FROM THE BEACH | by George Thatcher / FEB. 21, 2015
A golden aster blooms out of season by the seawall in a secluded spot visited by few beach walkers. Yet the wildflower's yellow blossom is classic. Does it really matter if the aster's beauty remains unseen? The poet Thomas Gray wrote, "Many a flower is born to blush unseen / and waste its sweetness."* However, this particular flower has indeed been seen by at least one person. And its beauty, trembling in the winter sea wind, lives on in the minds of this column's readers. -- Diary, winter 2015
*"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard;" The New Oxford Book of English Verse; Oxford University Press, NY (1972).
From the diary of beach walker George Thatcher / Email: fishcrow@aol.com
Collections of Mr. Thatcher's observations are available from Quail Ridge Press (www.quailridge.com or 1-800-343-1583).
This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "SCENES FROM THE BEACH | by George Thatcher / FEB. 21, 2015 ."