Portrait of Eternity

You hold it by the hand. This stillborn subject of a camera's lens one day-- complete that instant when a moment freezes as unique, its sum of history and the unknown, audacious in its silent voice. Give it a little time. It asks for nothing, but rewards are there-- incomperable, they swirl around and through the never-ending mind that permeates the all, the sine qua that no one ever sees. A scrap of cardboard! One of thousands daily swept away in silence, offering its vanity among the garbage of the landfill... and its priceless treasure, too. Tremble as you hold it! There lies a universe straight forward. Gaze into the eyes that seek the action of the shutter; they carry now and evermore the world that came along to mix with light and re-create itself within a single flash. It is an altar there between your fingers, yes, a reliquary, and much more. It isn't just a curiosity, or souvenir of memory; it is the opening (and mounting to be sure) of one thin, speeding impossible fragment that totality left far behind. ~