This picture was taken on the Contra Costa County, Northern CA’s golden hills, across from the windmills of Livermore, CA. I was hiking with my cub scout son, then 11 years old, at the Black Diamond Mine, and was struck by the beauty of the rolling hills that lead to the winding roads, and to the distant horizon of wind blades. A poem titled “Yin & Yang, Blue & Gold” was written for this image:
Yin & Yang, Gold & Blue
Visible
Are the smooth, round, well polished hills,
By the invisible hands of
Wind, rain, heat, and chill.
Seeable
Are the grooves, paths, fences,
cars parked in the distance,
no one can tell from whence.
But where are the cows, the hikers, and keepers of this land,
Whose hooves and boots left the golden hills branded?
I can see
the slithering grey road
Winding down and around,
To the blue and grey bay, the still wind blades,
And a patch of a little town.
Invisible
Are the heart beats of the land,
Breathing up and down.
The yearning of the golden,
The waiting by the blue,
For the formless powerful ghost
To turn the wind blades around,
To caress the lonely hills,
And to light up the little town.
Life forces, yin and yang,
What you see,
Is what you cannot see,
All around.
(Poem by Joanne Tan, 11/20/2013. Photo by Joanne Tan. All rights reserved.)
