WillDBill on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/willdbill/art/Stand-Against-the-Ocean-61516108WillDBill

Deviation Actions

WillDBill's avatar

Stand Against the Ocean

By
Published:
307 Views

Description

Standing on the cliff above the ruins of the San Francisco Bath House looking down hundreds of feet to the edge of the continent. From my vantage point, across the street from historical Sutro Park and up the block from the Cliff House restaurant, I can see one last, lonely, broken tree. It has been decades since even a single leaf adorned its branches. Most of the smaller limbs have broken off and washed away in the tumbling surf that hammers at the graveled soil that only barely allows enough purchase for the deepest part of the roots that still clutch at the rocks below. Every day the sun, the fog, and the unrelenting surf pound at the tree, doing their best to return it to the anonymous entropy the poor tree emerged from when it first escaped from the seed that bore it.

Despite the surf, the sun, the fog, the sand, the tourists, the bird shit, and the abuse of encroaching years, the tree still stands. Mutely giving testimony to its ability to champion life despite the never ending pain.

I respect that tree. I lift my camera and take the shot from so far away; capturing the photons that may soon be the only material remembrance that will ever mark its existence.

At night, throwing off the covers and taking a deep breath of the cool ocean air I realize I am the tree.

I smile and turn over, pulling the blanket tighter to my chin, knowing that with these words I have planted another seed of this tree; this time in your heart and your mind.

Sweet dreams, darlings.

-=b=-
Image size
1600x900px 262.89 KB
Make
Panasonic
Model
PV-GS500
Shutter Speed
1/750 second
Aperture
F/4.0
Date Taken
Jul 3, 2007, 3:04:01 PM
© 2007 - 2024 WillDBill
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Ann-McLaren's avatar
Love you.. Thanks you for this..