A Love for all Beautiful Things

Article and Poem by Holly Bradfield

The Honeysuckle Bush

The flick and the click of my thumb

On a lighter and the smoke that unfurls

Like an unclenching fist and obscures

The towering, trembling honeysuckle bush

Which I lie beneath.

The flowering plant is the pinnacle of beautiful things.

It flourishes for a season, and then it’s skin

Soon rescinds,

To just wooden bones.

I exhale with the birds and the breeze.

Why is there no beauty in the Autumn,

As the scattered yellow browns and sheds,

Like the antlers of a stag or the skin of a snake?

Why is there no beauty in the Winter,

As it battles bitter winds and fights

Frostbitten branch-tips?

Why is there no beauty in the Spring,

As it is refreshed by April’s shower,

And it is readied to bloom from behind its closed buds.

People forget the journey,

The strength and the learning,

And instead delight in delicate petals,

And other such dispensable things.

I wrote this poem in a sudden burst of evening creativity, which if I'm honest, was brought on by nothing in particular. I was sitting in my garden, next to my mum's pride and joy, a rather large honeysuckle bush (surprise!) It smells gorgeous in the summer, and it looks beautiful too. It's been there since I was really young, and every year it seems to bloom more beautifully than the last. I began to think about this cycle of admiration, and realised that I don't pay the bush much attention in the months when it lies bare.

(Holly's Honeysuckle bush, ft. Ariel by Sylvia Plath)

I kind of just sat down, and thought about what that says about society. We're brought up in a world that tells us the end result is key, and that beauty and perfection is what we need to focus on. People rarely ever take notice in the beauty that lies in the journey. We acquire knowledge and resilience through our struggles as people that builds us into who we are, and personally I find that to be a lot more beautiful than some inhuman perfect specimen, because where's the fun in that? If you're perfect and gorgeous and fabulous, then there's no need to learn anything else, or experience new things, which is really dull. If you're a bit of an idiot, or a misfit somehow, then you're going to keep learning and improving yourself. What's really special, is when you find someone who is always willing to learn and develop and try new things. That's what I think everyone should aspire to be.