Dusk was at our heels as we sipped coffee and took bites of a muffin on the cafeteria lawn of the New York Botanical Garden. It had already been a long day exploring the garden, but weariness could not catch up with us, especially when we saw those lively children rolling down the lea.

I picked up my camera to capture their dazzling laughter for posterity. My Canon PowerShot SX20 did not do them justice, I felt, when I first saw the pictures. I knew the light was low at the end of the day, and the subjects were too agile to be framed and captured.

Only one picture—of a little girl in her floral frock with golden locks, gliding through the meadow—effortlessly took me to a pensive land of dreams and more dreams.

I could only think of my favorite poet, W.B. Yeats. I returned to the album and appraised the pictures again. To my surprise, the blurriness and shaken images transformed into paintings and poems. I could see one of my favorite Yeats poems taking shape, line by line:

(Click to see the images one by one)

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Imperfections can steal your breath away, and you are glad to be gifted with such beauties of life. It is the Wabi-sabi way of life that invites you to cherish the charm of life’s imperfections, like the worn edges of your favorite book. It’s about finding peace in the simple, fleeting moments that feel yours.

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PS. These pictures are from a long, long time ago, November 18, 2011.

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