Beauty and the Beast
I had gone into town to meet someone, and on the way in I was stunned once again by the simple beauty visible almost anywhere in this remarkable valley. A roadside with an old olive tree and a new field of poppies, and in the distance a line of cypresses. Like a haiku poem unfolding in 3 lines and 2 frames.
In town, the fable of the ‘beauty and the beast,’ played itself out in 2 strokes. As I walked to my meeting with the ‘beauty,’ I saw the old man below plodding heavily along, andI felt the pull of gravity on his whole being. Not that he is the beast but the space around him was weighted with his effort, and some ineffable sadness. The beast I saw was one who worked hard all his life and, ilke many country people here, are bent from a lifetime of labor.
ONCE MORE AROUND THE SUN 
Hi Joel
The later reminds me of the framed ‘thrush’ that is the photograph. I can appreciate the comparison and it always amazes me how much images can led us to think.
Thanks as ever for the continuing project. As ever, my daily inbox highlight.
All the best
Mark
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Dear Mark,
It’s always good to hear from you and know you follow the blog so steadily. The evocative connections that come out of daily life are still surprising to me, and even’ enchanting’ sometimes, as when fairy tale concurrences, like beauty and the beast, rise up from nowhere and excite a train of thought along those lines. You know, it’s all ‘musings,’ on the human condition, and when our humanity is touched by the world, as photography so frequently shows it to us, we become more engaged and thus more in the world of sensation and its mysteries. Joel
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