Western Mountain Heather (Cassiope mertensiana) VIII.24.08 [ click photo for next . . . ]

Cassiope was a favorite genus of the 19th century conservationist
and lyrical naturalist, John Muir. The extraordinary beauty of
its tiny inverted urn-shaped flowers makes it easy to see why.

I can't help thinking of the ancient Greek notion of 'hebe',
the bloom of youth or the very peak of beauty of the young
women as she is about to become a bride. Hebe, of course,
is also the name of the goddess, daughter of Zeus. Homer speaks
of her as the princess who was the divine domestic, a cupbearer
to the gods. At a rocky 2200 meters, on a west-facing slope,
one can't help bending down on one's knees and exclaiming,
"Good god, that's beautiful!"

FUNDAMENTALISM

Fundamentalism—whether economic, or political, or
religious—is always based on the twin principles of
Absolute Belief & Absolute Authority.





That is why fundamentalism is incompatible with democracy,
and why it necessarily eschews rational debate.

Every house built upon its foundations becomes necessarily
a kind of prison, a prison on the verge of collapse.





CIRCLE?

Between the larch needle and leaf of the water-lily,
Nature draws its circle.

HEROES, PAST & FUTURE

In the past,

war-makers
were
immortalized
in
the
great
epics
of
the
world
poetic
tradition
as
the
heroes
of
the
age.


Now
that
it
has
unquestionably
become
a
question
of

non-violence
or
non-existence,

the
term
'heroic'
only
seems
to
ring
true
for
the
future
peace-maker,
the
future

King's,

Gandhi's,

Einstein's

and

Krishnamurti's

of
the
world
who
dare
to
draw
a
still
wider
circle
of
compassion
and
enlightenment
around
the

w h o l e.

Broken Bridge Camp,
Eagle Cap Wilderness,
Oregon, X.29.2008

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All Photographs & texts by Cliff Crego © 1999-2014 picture-poems.com
created: XI.10.2008)