Evening Light over Mesopotamia

It has been a long drive over hard rock mountains and through deep valleys, following east along the old silk route, and we have arrived at sundown in the ancient fortress city of Mardin high on the hill. It echoes of Arab sensibilities and long forgotten tales.

We find ourselves watching the sun go down exploring the madresesi. A most beautiful sight... the poet sings a song - in Turkish - about the wonders and beauty of the land. There is applause and, not far away, the gypsy dances, movement and light filling our hearts.

The architect recites Ozymandias by Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away"

... And I look out as the sun sinks over ancient lands, where seeing far back into biblical times there was plenty, beauty where the crops were full and bounteous. Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigress and the Euphrates, stretches out before me... the stories that are told of Persia and its Mysteries, of Babylon and now in modern times the countries of Iraq and Syria.

Several years later wars have been raged. Tanks and guns have pounded the earth. Men have argued and come to blows... The rocks stand the testimony to time and the earth is always solid and strong below us.

Let us all today feel the earth beneath our feet. Reach down and touch being one with all that is around us and knowing that each man is a brother.

All Artworks © Robert Burton. Artworks are available as limited edition silk scarf squares or framed and unframed limited edition prints and original artworks. Please contact The Shaman for more information.