The Monk & The Flame of Life

I've had just enough time to...   watch the flame dances.

Taken of the monk watching the flame of Life in the Temple of Shaolin

The monk stares at the flickering flame

Admiring its sensual dance of life

With the waltzing wind

As the pace picked up

The flame sparkles and frolics

Spin, sashay and gambol

Glitters, glistens and quivers

With rising passion

Consuming itself in its brilliance

And the monk wonders

Should he live Life as an untamed flame

Or an unlighted candle

The Colors of Winter.

I've had just enough time to...   witness the colors of winter.

Taken in the ground of Shaolin Temple.

Golden fallen leaves.

The brightest color on that

grey winter evening,

Remember The Dark When In The Spotlight.

I've had just enough time to...  momentarily be in the spotlight.

Taken in Shaolin Temple auditorium where monks showed their stuff and you can be under the spotlight for a fee.

The things some people will do -

when in the spotlight.

The things some people will say -

when in the spotlight.

The face some people will show -

when in the spotlight.

But whatever you do, say or show -

in the spotlight.

Remember,

The spotlight is not real and fickle.

The darkness around it, is.

So do not be blinded by the light,

 when in the spotlight.

Riding The Stone Tortoise.

I've had just enough time...   to see an old man riding a stone tortoise.

An instant shot made inside the Shaolin Temple, China.

It doesn't matter how many years,

Riding a stone tortoise will not get you there.

The Burden of the Wishing Tree.

I've had just enough time...   to feel the burden of the Wishing Tree.

Taken not far from Shaolin Temple, China.

 

I can feel the burden of Wishing Tree,

Leaden to the ground with the wishes of others.

Its one wish (but no one asked)

Is to be free of these wishes of others.