c. Mary Kathryn Gough
Black & White film
100 or 400, Jan 2005
Monastics used to climb up into these crags and crevices to pray and meditate. There were then monasteries built near the top of some, with wrist-thick rope nets let down on pulleys for visitors. Since then, steps have been carved into the steep heights to allow visitors a breathless ascent and a visit to a spectacular view and still working monasteries.
i.
wings, great w i d e
silverswimming wings overhead
drew a single shadow
on the ground, in
my heart of hearts.
darker
than the pupils of my eyes,
deepdoubletblueand
swimmingly azure with unshed
tears—
when the heart tears
it bleeds bright skyblue(the origin
of worldly-wondrous colors is
far wider, far more v a s t and
IMMENSE
than anyone imagines,says
dreaming me)you
swam, silvery-smooth and raylike
~ .slow. ~
through the outpouring of
my he ^ art:
6
ii.
carried upon that
flow, you must know
that the silver shadow you
cast from above i carried
heavily, and its darkly-filled pattern
spanned
dimensions innumerable within and
without, was even in
the raindrops
each:
as they picked up velocity, substance,
shape, also they took
the vague and hollow imprint
of remnantly drawn you, through
air, cloud, and increasing quantities of
time.
iii.
then, a brightness all afresh left me
awash in newness of love and
wholeness
of blessing filled me with colors all-hued
glorious as a rainbow burst in upon my
consciousness in the midst of grey rain;
testimony to sunshine and a promise of
future.
c. Mary Kathryn Gough, July 2007, SCM
