Beauty is a Bridge to Metaphor

Canoeing the Black River near Olympia, Washington, I was entranced by the lonely pillars of this old bridge. First, I was caught by their rusted rose-colored beauty and their worn texture. Then by what they are now in contrast to what they once were--a bridge spanning a river. Behind them, log pilings stretched to the far bank.  On some of the pilings, trees now grew surrounded by water.

I thought of that old saying, “never burn your bridges.” But sometimes, bridges we've built in the past are no longer needed. Sometimes, we should purposefully abandon them so we can journey somewhere new in our lives. 

But, as the pillars of this old bridge remind us, it’s important to honor the old places we went, the people we once were, the things we once made or did. Just because something that was right for us once is no longer right now, doesn’t mean we should regret the bridges of our past. The pillars remaining are monuments to our continuing journey.  The journey may now takes a different way over a different bridge over a different river, but that doesn’t mean the earlier way wasn’t worthy.

Sometimes beauty is what first catches our attention. Beauty makes us stop and look closer. Then our imaginations open to meaning and metaphor. While I thought the old bridge pillars beautiful, it was their meaning that made the bells ring.

LORE OF THE BELL

Beauty is a bridge leading us to meaning