Merry Christmas

The Reds and Greens of Christmas

Reds of Christmas

Greens of Christmas

Reds and Greens of Christmas

Reds of Christmas

Reds with Greens of Christmas

Greens of Christmas

Why red and green at Christmas?  The Catholic faith uses red as the color to represent Jesus because of his death on the cross and his blood that was shed for the sins of humanity.  Green is the color of nature, representing life, and therefore the hope of eternal life.

Lines

Life is composed of lines.

The lines are often distinct,

Distinct lines are definitive

Definitive lines are easy to follow.

Following definitive lines leads to a direct path

A direct path means clear thoughts, no interference.

Distinct Lines of Life

♥

But life is never consistently direct.

If life were consistently direct there would be no times of turmoil,

No times of doubt,

No times of indecision.

Blurred Lines of Indecision

♥

Blurred lines come into play.

Blurred lines distract along the way.

It’s the approach to blurred lines that determines

Whether we coil,

Or stand strong and press on.

When the soul stays strong,

And faith is relied upon,

The lines merge,

And become one,

An eternity

Of love.

Indistinct Lines Merging

♥

Generations of lines;

Lines of

love,

trust,

forgiveness,

And embraces,

That pass strength from one to the next

And grow the bonds

That come back,

Back to the eternity of love.

Generations of Lines Becoming One

♥

The eternity of love

Which is Christmas.

copyright Robyn Graham

Life as a Whole

Exhilarated Beauty

“When I work, and in my art, I hold hands with God” – Robert Mapplethorpe

Exhilarated Beauty

“Exhilarated beauty” is the image I chose today because I have just come off of an exhilarating experience with my first solo exhibit.  There is actually one day left, the gallery is open from 10 to 6 tomorrow, but the artist reception was Friday and I volunteered at the gallery several hours over the weekend.  I am excited to be able to report that I have sold several pieces and have met some incredible people, talented artists, and received wonderful compliments and words of encouragement.  It has been a great pleasure to share my gift with others!  I chose the quote in continuance of the calla lily/Robert Mapplethorpe series and because I truly believe my photography is a gift from God…his miraculous works are all around us and he is using my camera, lenses, and me to capture them and share them with the world in a unique way.

I must add that this series, as with almost all of my floral images, has been done using only natural light and my camera settings, with the only edits being black and white conversion.

A Reading of Old

“Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.”  Psalm 85:10

Hebrew Scroll

The image of the scroll was taken during a recent shoot for a Bat Mitzvah.  I paired a verse that I love from the Old Testament book of Psalms with the image of the scroll.  As the words photographed are in Hebrew I have no idea what they actually say, but felt an Old Testament verse would be appropriate to accompany the image.  I love the verse because it is beautiful and contains four words critical to overall happiness; words that I truly wish the world could live by.

Golden Peace

A wave of grace

Washes over the soul

As the golden glow

Of the sun recedes

Beyond the horizon.

A wave of golden warmth

Moves the heart

And stirs the emotions

Of then and now,

Of loves lost and gained,

For people who’ve come and gone

With the ebb and flow

Of the waves of life

Flowing near and far

Tempting the soul to grasp

The glory of the golden peace

That often lies beyond our reach.

Until, at last,

We concede to accept

The love and peace

Offered by –

The divine.

copyright Robyn Graham

Golden Peace

A Day in Solitary Confinement

From cell block nine

I am released,

For a narrow window of time.

†

Cell Block Nine

Narrow Window of Time

With burlap covering my eyes

And my hands cuffed behind my back,

The guard knows I

Cannot attack.

†

With confidence he leads the way.

Not a word do I dare say.

†

My senses tell me I’m in a long corridor

But we have not yet passed through a door.

†

A Long Corridor

Door

When suddenly the guard’s grasp

Upon my arm adjusts

And I hear the rusty sound of metal.

†

I recognize the sound,

My memory serves me well

Inside this prison’s hell.

†

Prison’s Hell

I feel a hand now press my head,

This is my cue to bend.

†

I’m told to take another step

And with that step

I fear the place I may be near.

†

But finally the guard decides

For just a minute he’s on my side.

He tells me where I am

And where I shall reside.

†

Solitary Exercise Yard

My thirty minutes don’t last long

In the concrete yard

With little reward

But the sun’s deep warmth.

†

The sun, it makes me grin

And my mind wonders

Back to the days before

I stole the horse named Gin.

†

Four stone walls

And a concrete floor

Are the solitary exercise yard.

†

No hoop or ball

Just me and four concrete walls.

†

I pace

And make my heart race

While the sun beats down upon my face.

†

I smile all the while

Until at last

My name is called,

Metal scrapes,

And once again

To the darkness I dread

I am lead.

†

With each blind step I climb

My mind begins to numb.

†

Blind Steps

The solitary life that I now live,

Is one I must forgive.

†

copyright Robyn Graham

The poem above was inspired by a recent trip to Eastern State Penitentiary in which I did the audio tour and heard testimonies from former prisoners as well as former guards.  If my memory serves me correctly, the first prisoner to experience solitary confinement was a man who stole a horse.  His head was covered so that he could not define his where-a-bouts and so that no one could identify him.  The images accompanying the poem are a few that I felt coordinated well with the story told through the poem.  The quote below by Charles Dickens really summarizes what life in solitary confinement was like.  The quote, too, fell in line with the words of my poem.

“Looking down these dreary passages, the dull repose and quiet that prevails, is awful. Occasionally, there is a drowsy sound from some lone weaver’s shuttle, or shoemaker’s last, but it is stifled by the thick walls and heavy dungeon-door, and only serves to make the general stillness more profound. Over the head and face of every prisoner who comes into this melancholy house, a black hood is drawn; and in this dark shroud, an emblem of the curtain dropped between him and the living world, he is led to the cell from which he never again comes forth, until his whole term of imprisonment has expired….He is a man buried alive; to be dug out in the slow round of years….

And though he lives to be in the same cell ten weary years, he has no means of knowing, down to the very last hour, in what part of the building it is situated; what kind of men there are about him; whether in the long winter night there are living people near, or he is in some lonely corner of the great jail, with walls, and passages, and iron doors between him and the nearest sharer in its solitary horrors.” – Charles Dickens in 1842 after he visited the Eastern State Penitentiary

 

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”  1 John 2:9-10

Solitary Confinement

Punishment

For

Crimes Committed

∞

Time

For

Consideration

∞

Moments

Of

Reflection

∞

Dreams

Of

A Different Path Chosen

∞

Remorse

For

 Wrongs Committed

∞

Regret

Anger

Humility

Hope

∞

Repentance

For

Pain Engendered

∞

Faith

That

Grace Will Be Given

copyright Robyn Graham

Solitary Confinement

“…God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:5-7

Dogwood Flowers

On May 30th of 2012 I wrote a post about the Legend of the Dogwood Tree.  Please see the post and learn more about the history of the beautiful Dogwood flowers posted this evening.  You can access the post by typing in “Dogwood” in the search bar to the right, or by using the calendar on the right.  I apologize, but for some reason the hyperlink is not working….hmmm…

Am I Different To You?

One meaning of the Dogwood in the Victorian Language of Flowers

Vintage Dogwood

As found on the tree.

Love undiminished by adversity.

Another meaning of the Dogwood in the Victorian Language of Flowers.

Dogwood Strong and Proud

 Dogwood Shadows

Dogwood at Sunset

A Door Closed is Another Door Open…

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell

Look Without Regret

 

“God enters by a private door into every individual.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Knock and the Door will Be Opened

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

2013 Daffodil Series – 05

A Cup of New Beginnings

The cup

Of life,

Stories told of

Love and strife.

All things

Pass through

And welcome,

Life anew.

The saucer

Of life,

Embracing the cup

Of love and strife.

A balancing act

To engage the fact

That all things past

One day

Leave way

to

New beginnings

Which ebb and sway

For life anew.

Copyright Robyn Graham

A Cup of New Beginnings

An additional thought for the day:

He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.  God does it so that men will revere him.  Ecclesiastes 3:11-14