Ephemera: This Is The Skull of Adam

I saw the Prophet Eliseus descend into these caverns, I cannot say whether in reality or only in a vision, and I saw him take out a skull from a stone sepulchre in which bones were resting. Some one who was by his side—I think an angel—said to him, ‘This is the skull of Adam.’ The prophet was desirous to take it away, but his companion forbade him.

           - Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

From Ephemera

After Compline: 20 October 2004

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Half moon hung up in the sky
Wreathed with clouds like Nine Chinese Dragons,
Illuminating a path before me,
Shadows shifting on canyon walls.

Of the times I've been here,
I've never noticed that.
I walk along, shadows shift
From a Skull to Sphinx to King.

Enormous silence,
Not an in-breathing suspension
But an absence of breath entirely.

The monks are simple, spiritual.
The place is terrible, sacred -
Haunted by god's presence
More than any I have ever known.

Yet, I was born in this beautiful tomb.