As monumental terrain
In unfriendly weather
For in the darkness
Beauty thrives
Captured here by glassy eyes
A net to capture
Brittle broken crystals
Falling gently
Alighting on smallest twig
A coat of soft white
On gnarled white bark
I carry compassion
A torch to light my way
Through the darkness of unseeing
I wield mindfulness
A blade to cut my way
Through the brambles of being
Physical
Geographical
Emotional
Intellectual
Personal
Romantic
And every time
Find something new
Some original way to see
Some valuable insight
The light
Flat as the calm sea
And equally tranquil
A scene
Rendered entirely in charcoal and smudge
But for a band of cottony hanging fog
I seek the frame
In which destruction’s beauty
Can be seen
But it can, I replied.
She looked at me. Puzzled.
It just needs to be cinematically ugly.
Which is to say
It must still be beautiful.
Still puzzled.
So I expanded.