"We build because we must," my neighbor said,
one day when we were standing at the cove,
watching the sun slip down behind great stacks
of rock and cloud, "but what does building prove?"
"Take old Jeff, there, his back turned to the light,
sheaving nails and boards against the sea:
who will remember him when he is gone?
Will his dock last?" I said, "Don't look at me!
"I'm not a man that ponders overmuch
the heavy side of things." He cracked a can
of Henry Weinhardt's brew, and with a grunt
of mild disapproval, he began
philosophizing yet again: "Suppose
a sudden storm should sweep in from the west
and wash each board of old Jeff's work away
all of an instant; would that be a 'test',
or just rude nature crushing without care?
What does it mean to build, and to go back
to building yet again when all you've done's
been swept away?" "My God, man, that's a black
perception you are offering!" I cried.
"Don't look to me for answers. I'm content
to watch the sunset with you, and don't give
a flying fart to know what something 'meant'!"
"Then you're a pimple on God's ass!" he yelled,
draining the can and turning to the breeze;
"A thoughtless man is like no man at all;
he's just some flotsam any wave can seize,
"driven by any storm, drifting on every tide:
build nothing and be nothing's what that does.
A man must overcome, or he becomes,
little by little, less than what he was,
"until, when God's last trump sounds over him,
he's less than nothing, less than mist in air!"
I looked at him, and shrugged, and turned away
muttering as I did "I just don't care!
"I'm easy as I am, and I'm convinced
that no amount of worrying at things
too vast to comprehend could ever gain
me one small comfort, or an angel's wings."
I'm not too good with the words, they just don't flow very easily for me like the others here. But I know what I like and I like what I see.
A wonderful image. If you have to work, I know I'd much rather be working in the surroundings you show us here, rather than stuck in some office somewhere.: ) Thanks for sharing.
Ha! Reminds me of that old story about if a tree falls & nobody's there, does it make a noise? ..... Is beauty there if we don't look at it? - that's what I'm thinking this is about. This guy can't afford the time to stand and gape at this beautiful scene right now, but the beauty's still there & he knows it, and that's just fine for him today.
Another interpretation is that our world is a wonderful place, but it is that way, and more importantly it stays that way, not because of the gushings of greenies and mystics and environmental activists, but because of the efforts of regular people who are prepared to quietly get on with making a living ... these people make it possible for the rest to stand and gape (and later complain because this guy drives to work in a truck rather than a solar-powered rickshaw).
This photograph invites all sorts of allegorical interpretations like that, as so much of your work does.
That's what makes it so terrific for me; it's a beautiful image, masterfully processed, but it's also so much more than that; it's also ABOUT something. Something thoughtful and important that the viewer cannot ignore. And that viewer has to do some thinking, too. The viewer's not a spectator, the viewer is a participant in your work. And that's what separates art from mere pretty pictures. Bravo.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
