To frailty
There is a power
Borne of compassion
There is a power
Borne of compassion
When compassion fails
Frailty is where the boot comes down
The hardest
Tag: travel
Stone ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #241
This forest of stone
Rotting on the desert plain
Rain the destroyer
Rotting on the desert plain
Rain the destroyer
Line ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #240
Such exquisite line
Forms an art without figure
The face of Islam
Forms an art without figure
The face of Islam
Winding ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #239
The road winds down
To valley floor
From there the way
Cannot be known
To valley floor
From there the way
Cannot be known
With scant resource
For alternates
My faith is firm
No other course
Now heart resolved
Courage mustered
With just one step
My fears dissolved
Stovepipe
Stovepipe is a planet of two suns
Rarely seen whole
Through dense clouds
Which never shed rain
Rarely seen whole
Through dense clouds
Which never shed rain
The stone marker
A memorial to those who had come
But otherwise left no mark
After the third colony failed
The only visitors would be
Passersby and tourists checking off a box
The Bar & Grill of Passing Thru
It was one of those American small-town off-the-main-attraction tourist bar & grills papered with dollar bills, George Washington in all his unemotional placidity staring back at me from walls, pillar and ceiling. Off-season empty but for a pair of locals playing darts and a couple passing through on the way to somewhere relatives and presents waited for them. It was hard to tell whether the twinkle lights were seasonal or permanent, but there was no other sign of the holiday. So, permanent.
The place was stocked with beer, though. Lots of it. Their inventory must have been pretty mobile. The bartender just pointed a thumb over his shoulder when I asked for a beer list.
“We’ve got everything in those shelves.”
I counted five rows of 20 cubbyholes each, and every one had a different beer or cider. Maybe one was empty, just for the cliche.
“Impressive.”
Untold Stories
Every picture tells a story
While the stories of the photographed
Remain untold
While the stories of the photographed
Remain untold
Come
This is not a place for the faint of culture
Or order
Or hygiene
Or poverty
Or order
Or hygiene
Or poverty
Nonetheless, they should come
This is not a place for those
Who dislike the crush of a crowd
Who want a fresh coat of paint
Or a breath of fresh air
Nonetheless, they should come
This is not a place for those who believe
That people’s conditions reflect their choices
That there is one right way to live
Or one way to think
Nonetheless, come
This is not the place for them
Because their cherished values
Will be confronted
Every moment of every day
And that is why
You should come
Because this scene is neither
Remarkable nor unusual
It is mundane
Everyday
Most of the world’s people
Your brothers and sisters
Live out their lives
In scenes like this one
Or what you would consider to be
Much much worse
Scenes which appear
Dirty
Unkempt
Dilapidated
But if you don’t come
If you don’t spend quality time
With your human family
In their homes
You may never learn
The true beauty of this scene
And all the people in it
Nonetheless, they deserve better
From those of us
Who assume we have better
Because we are better
In no small measure
We have better
Because we’ve bettered them
But are superior in no other way
Than an accident of natal geography
It’s easier to see that
If you come
So if you are enabled
By conditions of privilege
To travel internationally
Privilege built in part on their poverty
You should come
Small in a Time of Grand
Missing small moments
In crowded worlds of being
Isolated times
In crowded worlds of being
Isolated times
Blocking Point
I tried to find the words today
But the words would not converge
But the words would not converge
Themes and thoughts that did emerge
With promise of infinity
Then vanished at a wall
Leaving not a word at all
Instead I wrote this deathly dirge
To writer’s block I fall
