Though their petals may shrivel and fall away, these tulips remain beautiful and elegant in my eyes. Is beauty eternal?
I am convinced that, despite the popular adage that “beauty fades,” beauty is in fact eternal when we broaden our perceptions and allow ourselves to look more deeply. One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) says, “On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.” (It is only with the heart that you can see well. That which is essential is invisible to the eyes).
Perhaps we need to change the familiar saying that “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” to “beauty is in the heart of the beholder.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Lovely photos and thoughts, Mike.
Thanks, Dan. In my more pensive moments, I like to ponder “big” questions, like “what is beauty” and “what is art.” The thoughts in this post are deliberately provocative and it will be interesting to see if anyone weighs in with some alternative ideas.
I do think beauty remains. I recently looked up a woman who had a role in an a 1960s TV show. I think she’s still alive. She has aged, but she is still beautiful (and it seems without plastic surgery).
Beautifully said Mike, much enjoyed thank you. Beauty is all around us indeed.
Thanks. My goal was to get people thinking about what beauty actually means–I totally agree that beauty is all around us, if we stop, take a deep breath, and look beyond the superficial surface appearance.
Nice image, Mike. I so like Le Petit Prince and that quote is one of many deep thoughts from the book.
I have a bouquet of purple tulips my daughter picked for me from her yard. They are beginning to fade, yet they are the most lovely bouquet I have ever seen! Yes, deeper beauty is there.
Amen. I think often people look at beauty way too superficially.
Beautiful! Mark Venturini, the Christian author of tween fantasy novels, wrote : “The eyes are useless when the mind is blind”. I think that may be true of those who fail to see the beauty of an aging flower or that of an aging person. I can never bear to toss out fading flowers until the petals are falling from the stems. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!
Thanks. Our society tends to worship a superficial kind of beauty that in based on age. I like to counteract that notion by demonstrating that beauty is literally everywhere.