Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Grazing the Edge of the Precipice






PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL ("Why Here," part 14):  

Angling

The Inca Bridge is always closed now; 
too fragile, 
too dangerous, 
unsafe.  
Standing at the edge looking across the gap 
was 
an anticlimax, 
no crossing over the precipice
swinging on a walkway of vines,
of rounding the next bend,
looking back,
triangulating.

My walk brought me back
just as a low squinting sun  
serenaded shadows
across the ruins 
and the mountains
and the clouds.
As I came off a high terrace 
to get a different angle, 
there were the llamas below me, 
grazing at the edge 
of the precipice and 
the cloud forest.