AN ALTERNATE REALITY

 

MY  TIAN AN MEN

As the sun dispersed the dew,
as it dried the damp air,

Slowly …

out of the emerging
morning mist,
marring the way,
… the path ahead unfolded.

The cloud cover cleared,
A cleft in the curtain,
… and perhaps,
a rift in my resolve?

The image I’d searched for,
my promised land,
was there ahead of me.
Destiny delivered,
my soul-searching’s end.

My pilgrim’s way;
my midsummer dream;
my yellow brick road
… to pleasure or perdition?

There, a vision,
enticing, ahead.
An arched branch,
beckoning,
offering more than a glimpse
of an alternate reality,
a quantum of hope.

The rock-strewn pathway
to the portal,
gibbous,
curvaceous.
A mystical mirage –
Temping me with its
serpentine, sinuous symmetry,
… the  entrance to my dream …
To my  Tian an men.

‘Sliding Door’ to a new experience;
Alice’s rabbit-hole;
Lucy’s Wardrobe;
Will’s Subtle Knife.

A gap in time;
a wormhole to wonder.
My image reflected
In a parallel life,
In the spacetime continuum.

The threshold to Erewhon?
Or to Paradise Regained?

A dilemma confronts me,
Paralysing my hopes.
Now that I’ve found it,
Do I dare …
Take the road less travelled?

. . . If you are there . . .
It will make all the difference.

 

My photographs were taken in Loch Voil,  Balquhidder Glen, Scotland

Balquhidder (Balwhidder), village is at the foot of Loch Voil in central Scotland, where west Perthshire meets the Trossachs at the gateway to the Highlands. Balquhidder glen evokes emotions that are heightened in the knowledge that druids, Jacobite rebels, ancient clans, ancient Royals, famous authors and Rob Roy McGregor have tread before us. Punctuated by Munro’s, trout filled lochs and wildlife this hauntingly beautiful glen is drenched in history and folklore centred around a Kirk yard that tells a thousand tales.

Extract is from:   Loch Voil and Rob Roy Country

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References:

Tian an men  ( 天安門 )  – literally: “Gate of Heavenly Peace”
Robert Frost: 1916, Poem ‘The Road Not Taken’
Philip Pullman:  1995-2000, Trilogy ‘His Dark Materials’
John MIlton:  1671, ‘Paradise Regained’
C.S.Lewis:   1950-1956, The Narnia Chronicles .
Lewis Carroll: 1865,  ‘Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland’
Samuel Butler:  1872, ‘Erewhon’ (‘Nowhere’ reversed)
‘Sliding Doors’:  1998 comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Howitt.
Frank Baum: 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’
The Theory of  Parallel Universes  on Wikipedia.
The theory of Alternate Reality on Wikipedia.
In Physics, Spacetime on Wikipedia

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