Tag: beauty

Poetry by Patrick JenningsNov 8, 20176:08 pm

moon and road, Lakelands, Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada

Still not Still

A high country road
I stop beside a lake
Find a place which centers the moon
Wait for the headlights on the shore

Click open
Wait (tick tick tick)
Twenty seconds wait
Click closed
Repeat

I watch the universe
In subtle motion
While my camera freezes time

Poetry by Patrick JenningsNov 5, 20178:00 am

Maligne Lake, Queen Elyzabeth Ranges, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Repose ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #112

I paddle on the water, rippley
The lake upon my shoulders, heavy
This effort bringing me repose
When following where nature goes

Poetry by Patrick JenningsOct 22, 20174:46 pm

Sunset Silhouette, Athabasca Glacier, Rocky Mountains, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada-Edit copy

Rock ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #110

A trail through loose stone scattered
Gouged from mountains, crushed by time and ice, now at rest
Here I, immersed in the hiker’s mindful peace
Each measured step a meditative breath

Though, could I see
The immensity of time
With the eyes of this still young Earth

Then peaceful moment lost
Turmoil and cataclysm of tumbling land

And in those eyes, what am I?

But a mote of dust
Lost to infinity

Canon 5D Mark II by Patrick JenningsOct 20, 20177:00 am

Courage, A-Maze-ing Laughter, Yue Minjun, West End, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Courage (for Gordon Downie)

We lost a good one this week in Canada, Gordon Downie, frontman, lyricist, songwriter for The Tragically Hip, a Canadian rock powerhouse. In the 80s and 90s, they were probably my favourite band.

This song, Courage (for Hugh MacLennan), has always resonated deeply with me. In 1998, while spending six months bicycling across China, it inspired this blog post from the road. As it turns out, with all that’s going on in the world right now, it proves a timely reminder to get back on the path of love and light and insight. It was a path Gordon Downie forged and followed vigorously, right up to the very end.

Here’s to you, Gordon. And thanks, again, for all the insight.

Poetry by Patrick JenningsOct 8, 201711:47 pm

Whistlers Mountain, Jasper Skytram, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Giants ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #108

In this hard-scrabble place
Where little life lives
I walk amongst the lichen and scrub
Like a giant
On giant’s shoulders
All my world
Its worries and attachments
Lie far, far below

I linger here
With the sun
My fading friend
As the cool night advances
I am clear and light
As the rarefied air

Poetry by Patrick JenningsOct 4, 20177:00 am

Wilcox Pass Trail, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Beauty is Beauty

I explore
I break trails
Find my way
Through unknown lands
To destinations yet
Undiscovered
Unreconnoitered
Unexpected

This is what I live for
Finding a new path
To a beautiful place
Rarely visited before

But I live too
For the well-worn trail
The short, easy hike
To a well-known vista
Of no small beauty

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 25, 20177:00 am

The Beauty in What Is

I remind myself
Find the beauty in what is
Rather than what I desire
I will always have the beauty of the one
The other is, at best, only fleeting
If it ever comes to exist at all

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 22, 20172:29 pm

Hope Slide, Nicolum Valley, Cascade Mountains, British Columbia, Canada

What it seems

All I know is myth
Particular things
I create by naming
In lands appearing

Before my eyes

Where nothing is
Just what it seems
Since what it seems
Is in my mind

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 22, 20177:00 am

The Grey Between

In the black that’s without white
Only the grey between
I find my way seeking light
Though nothing bright here can be seen
With no colour
No hint of saturation
Only tone and faintest texture
Detail limited to imagination

I find the beauty
In the lines
The forms
And open space
Which let me roam

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 21, 20177:00 am

Sunburst Above the Smoke, Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

The Lowest Road

This road
Between
The peaks
It cleaves
The valley floor
But I
Would climb
Into the sky
If I
Could find
A path
To take me there
But where
No path’s
Been cut
I have not
The will
To blaze
The trail
Up to
The heights
And so am I
Confined
To roam
The lowest road
Below
The sun