Poetry

If Cancer Had A Face

Is this the face that haunts us?
He that invades our lives with pain, heartbreak and fear?
He that seeks to destroy our future? A future once so bright and secure.
Is this the face that takes it away;
Takes everything, leaving only Love to stand naked and alone?
You cannot create, so you have to destroy.
You deceive, driving others to chaos.
And still your face pales next to the face of Love.
You destroy the body, but you can’t degrade Love.
We’ve seen evidence of Greater Promises, and it has changed us.
Truth, Faith and Grace will take us through to a better Day,
When Love shall be renewed and together we can acknowledge:
The price was cheap enough.

“Ghoul” [Click on the image to enlarge/reduce its size.] Nikon D300, ISO 320, f/3.3 at 1/2000 sec., 85 mm

We learned this last Thursday that James’ cancer, which was in full remission, has returned. Despite James’ horrible pain and discomfort, we have plans to travel to DC soon to be married by Rev. Cedric Harmon. I am flying up tomorrow to apply for our license, then there’s the obligatory 3-5 day wait for turnaround and processing. Sadly, Florida will not acknowledge our Civil Rights and there is no place closer we can go to get this done. We are thus forced to endure the expense and hardship of travel. After 21 years of committing our lives to God and each other, we deserve this happiness amidst this hell. James wants to ensure that no matter what happens, we can receive the benefits we are entitled to by right and by Liberty. We humbly and gratefully request your prayers for healing and strength to get us through these difficult days. Thank you and God bless. — Earl

Chiseled Features

The artist, inspired by love and fear
created him out of stone
Chiseled features hide his tears
as he dreams of flesh and bone.
– EH

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Laundry Day

Polaroid 250 Land Camera

Sorting out our lives
like clothing
needing to be washed.

Concerned about bleeding,
dark stains,
color and texture.

Wanting to be clean
yet dirty
we plea for more soap.

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Struggling for Hope

Nikon D300, ISO 500, 85mm, f/5.6, 1/25 sec

Broken and torn, shattered
shards of dreams and promises litter the floor
inflicting new pain as we step through the memories
progress, hindered by repetition of the unknown and the unwanted.

Agony, punctuated by tears
what happened? why this? why him? please wake up!
this isn’t where we’re supposed to be
remorse for what has been lost, fear of what is to come.

The loved and the loving
stand helpless and unappeased
watching lives dissolving in torrents of wet grief
mouths incapable of finding words to match the depth of the heart.

Trust, believe and fight, fight, fight
there is a plan, a purpose not yet revealed
counsels echo through the hours in the struggle for hope
and he reaches out to touch the hem of a beautiful cherished robe.

– December 10, 2012

AN EXPLANATION

Last August, on the eve of my birthday, we learned that my partner of 20 years had a new battle with cancer to fight. Having already been through 5 surgeries over the course of 4 years, we thought we had passed through this valley once and for all when he was pronounced cancer-free following radiation treatments ending in October, 2011. A PET scan reiterated this finding in February, 2012.With the August pronouncement of a new tumor in a new location, we packed our house and moved across the country to be closer to family. Perhaps you have noticed that this had a significant impact on my ability to post on my blog until now. With computer and camera gear now accessible at last, I shall strive to update it more regularly, occasionally sharing moments of this journey into hell and perhaps finding a bit of catharsis in the process.

The Sick Rose

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
– William Blake

Nikon D300, ISO 200, 1/125 sec at f/1.8, 35 mm

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Tomorrow!

Coming upon this couple sitting in the park, I knew I wanted to photograph them. They were so comfortable, so sure of themselves and each other – in just a few seconds of interaction, I could tell these two individuals thought with one mind. Their togetherness was as sure as the promise of tomorrow.

When I had finished taking the photo, the gentleman glanced at my Nikon camera and said, with a gleam in his eye, “There. Now you’ve got a little German in your camera.” That being so, I won’t complain if it grows up to be a Hasselblad.

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow again will shine the sun
And on my sunlit path of earth
Unite us again, as it has done,
And give our bliss another birth…
The spacious beach under wave-blue skies
We’ll reach by descending soft and slow,
And mutely gaze in each other’s eyes,
As over us rapture’s great hush will flow.
– John Henry Mackay

Nikon D300, ISO 200, 1/100 sec at f/1.8, 50 mm

Mackay’s original German text of the poem follows:

Morgen!

Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen
und auf dem Wege, den ich gehen werde,
wird uns, die Glücklichen sie wieder einen
inmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde…
und zu dem Strand, dem weiten, wogenblauen,
werden wir still und langsam niedersteigen,
stumm werden wir uns in die Augen schauen,
und auf uns sinkt des Glückes stummes Schweigen…
– John Henry Mackay

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Beautiful Two-Lips

Nikon D300, ISO 200, f4, 1/1000th

There are tulips in the garden,
There are tulips in the park,
But none is more beautiful
Than two lips meeting in the dark.
— Anonymous

Yellow Tulips & My First Haiku Attempt

The tulips bloom:
Fireworks
sputter out.

This isn’t a new photograph, but it is the one that pretty much marks the beginning of my love affair with photographing tulips. One of the things I most look forward to each spring is the appearance of the gorgeous tulips that grow so prolifically in the yards of Salt Lake Valley homes, parks and gardens. They are a reminder that we’ve reached the few months of reprieve from the cold. Along with the daffodils, hyacinths and crocus, they burst forth in a beautiful display of color, igniting the landscape all too briefly.

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This image is available as a 100% cotton bi-fold greeting card.

Please leave your comments and feedback (the photo and the haiku; how did I do?).

My Favorite Things

I’d give all wealth that years have piled,
The slow result of Life’s decay,
To be once more a little child
For one bright summer day.
~Lewis Carroll, Solitude

These were a few of my favorite things...

The greatest poem ever known
Is one all poets have outgrown:
The poetry, innate, untold,
Of being only four years old.
~Christopher Morley, To a Child

View greeting cards from EarlHarrisPhotography.com