Great Egret (Ardea alba), 1821, Watercolor by John James Audubon.
The heron has that white body from which protrudes that delicate and elegantly curved breast, with a small head and a very large beak, which symbolizes the capacity to captivate, foresee, and act from a distance.
We only perceive it move when, with those long legs and an elegant gait, it raises its broad foot and steps forward.
A Snowy Egret with full plume
It is an elegance in the act of moving forward, with distinction, as one who commands an empire: it commands with such finesse and authority in the miniscule territory in which it is queen that, in moving, the heron gives pleasure to those who appreciate the principle of authority.
Elegance is the excellence made visible wherever one observes it by means of one of the innumerable possible combinations of strength and delicacy.
Photo of a Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) fishing, by using its wings to create shade. Photo taken by Chris Harshaw.
At a certain moment, an instinct stirs in the heron. It spreads its wings and flies: Farewell, marshes! Farewell, insects! The sky also belongs to the heron. Beyond all else, it possesses the vastness and the sun, which strikes its wings and makes them shine as if they were made of snow.
Its legs seem like filaments that elegantly extend its height.
Photo of a Great Egret in flight by Harald Hoyer.
It parts the air with a flight much more elegant than the elegance of its walk.
Elegance is a first stage on the path of sublimity.
[Nobility.org Translation]
