What is beauty?
Is beauty a perfectly proportioned face atop a perfectly proportioned body?
Is beauty a serene water body, with powder-topped mountains in the background?
Is beauty the multi coloured brightness of a butterfly? Or is it the stark black and white of a zebra?
Is beauty the jagged horizon of a city in twilight? Or is it a sole wooden cabin surrounded by the impenetrable green of a forest?
Or maybe it is a feature felt best by other senses?
Is beauty petrichor on a quietly wet day?
Is beauty the noise of crickets at night? Or is it birds singing at dawn?
Is beauty the feel of velvet between fingers?
Is beauty the taste of creamy ice-cream melting on your tongue?
Is beauty the sense made by black symbols on a yellow paper? Is it the smell of this yellow paper?
Maybe beauty isn't about the senses?
Is beauty the knowledge that you are loved?
Is beauty the high found in success? Or is it the calm found in profound sorrow?
Is beauty the satisfaction borne from revenge? Or is it the peace borne from forgiveness?
What is ugliness, then?
Is ugliness a scar on white skin? But the pain behind it is beauty.
Is ugliness initials on a monument? But the love behind it is beauty.
Is ugliness the slums in a big city? But the endurance of the inhabitants is beauty.
Is ugliness a face contorted in rage? But the passion in that emotion is beauty.
Is ugliness a beggar on a posh street? But his smile at some alms is beauty.
Is ugliness the mud of quicksand? But the mystery of its depths is beauty.
Is ugliness a factory in a peaceful landscape? But its unceasing rhythm is beauty.
Isn't it all beauty then? I believe so.
