The Rock – Līgo Haībun Challenge

AnElephantCant claim he’s intelligent
Some folk say he’s a kinda dumb creature
But when he wants to learn
He knows where to turn
Mother Nature is the ultimate teacher

This week’s Līgo Haībun Challenge comes once again courtesy of the wonderful Penny, assisted magnificently by Nightlake and The Pirate.

AnElephant’s chosen prompt is:
“Come forth into the light of things,
let nature be your teacher”  ~ William Wordsworth

Morning sun on the Maures Mountains

The Rock

It catches his eye each morning as he breakfasts on orange juice and croissants.
It is like a beacon, a lighthouse, high on the steep mountainside.
The rest of the slope, no, it is almost a crag, is covered in trees, with patches of grey and dull terra cotta showing in places.
But this rock shines, thrusting proudly out from the dark green that surrounds it.
It sits hundreds of feet above the highest houses, in magnificent isolation.
He admires it, wonders at it, ponders its story.

Then one day, sadly, he fetches the binoculars.
And it is transformed.
It does not protrude at all.
Quite the reverse, it lies flat against the ground, almost upright because of the inclination of the mountain at this point.
And behind the surrounding trees.

It is an illusion, caused by the relative angles of the rock and the morning sun.
And causes him to think of so many things that are not as they seem.
Including people.
He is all too often fooled by a different perspective.
He is saddened by the loss of his shining landmark.
And by his sudden insight.

what we look at
what we see
are not always the same