black and white photography

100 days…84th day

Clipped Wings

dreamingdoubleexposure

How did it come to this?

A forced landing, weakened wings

a solid source of former strength,

taking you through 

dark clouds and heavy downpours.

 

Those resilient wings assured your

bodily independence

as you soared through storms,

high winds battering

and pressing upon your life.

whiteblossom

 

Now those same weathered wings

bear evidence of missing feathers,

thinning bones and shrunken wingspan,

no longer able to lift and sour

or glide with the gusto that carried

you through turbulent tempests.

 

Slowly, slowly you learn to accept

those clipped wings, to be content

with nesting in the arms of elderhood.

csublossomsb&w

 

You submit to this final appendage

of your journey, bid farewell

to cherished autonomy

and slowly fold your worn wings

in peaceful surrender.

                                                        ~Joyce Rupp*

 

*cited:

Fly While You Still Have Wings

Joyce Rupp

 

weekly photo challenge: admiration

Each day there are “everyday people” whose work day begins hours before the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange.  They are only famous among family and friends so most likely their life stories will never be within Time magazine. We may briefly greet an “everyday person” as we go through our day with a quick  nod, wave, and smile. Yet, seldom do we acknowledge that it is through their unique labors that most of us enjoy so many things taken for granted:

  • strawberries for breakfast
  • closets filled with clothes
  • tables cleared at favorite restaurant
  • shelves stocked at grocery stores
  • weekly trash pick up
  • traveling along highways and over bridge ways

What would happen if suddenly all of these admirable people suddenly disappeared…

weeklyphotochallenge

Submitted in response to Krista’s photo challenge:  Admiration

weekly photo challenge: future

As I walk about the campus at Colorado State University…my memories take me back to those days of hope…of expectation…of dreams…of a Future yet to be.  Today, a journey through past days.

weeklyphotochallengefuture

The Commons at CSU

 

five of seven…wired

On a quiet evening in my thatch-roofed hut,

alone I play a lute with no strings.

It’s melody enters wind and cloud,

mingles deeply with a flowing stream,

fills out the dark valley,

blows through the vast forest, then disappears.

Other than those who hear emptiness,

who will capture this rare sound?

                              ~Ryokan*

elsewhere

*cited:

Sky Above, Great Wind

K Tanahashi