There's an angel inside me
who I must wrestle,
perhaps to be wounded

but never defeated.
Soft whispers awaken me.
My heart

is pounding.
The tiger's back
panting in the prison.

A sudden Rush.
And the sky opens
toward a new dimension.


c. Douglas Fireman

 

Can you see the elephant in stone and its small trainer
just below the elephant's trunk on the right ? Are you able to see
images in stone, wood, clouds, or in a display of shadows
and sunlight on the lawn, in leaves, or within the interlocked branches of a tree, for example?

If so, then you are likely a 'pareidoliac.'

The picture was taken in Petra, Jordan.

This is not a drawing.

I discovered it among the natural rock formations
at Petra, Jordan.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra

As I walked
the dust laden path
toward the source
of who I am,

tears fell freely.
I saluted that noble visage,
apparent stone,
yet bone of my bone;

another ancestor,
living on the heart ridge
now honored
and revered.

c. Douglas Fireman

Original photo taken
in Petra, Jordan.

Shadows on the leaves.
Look!

A crow having breakfast.

c. Douglas Fireman

It isn't often that one sees
a Lord of Nature
meditating

in the hollow of a tree.
And when I peered
into that private place,

I heard the songs
my grandmother taught me.
She said,

to shut my eyes;
to go inside myself
and listen to the song

of who and what I am.
She taught me
the 'Song of Silence.'

So it struck me,
as I listened mesmerized
to that Lord of Nature

singing silently...
that my wish
since boyhood days

to sing, though not
completely
realized,

was now
closer to the mark
than it has ever been.


c. Douglas Fireman

The configuration of this leaf
reminds me of a Medieval monk
reading a passage he has written
on a piece of parchment.