Jordan Trip Miscellany

Here you will find poetry and pictures not found in the photo-narrative post of my trip to Jordan. Be sure to click on the pictures to see them in a larger size.

Some Flowers

Museum of Archaeology

A 3,200 year old prophetic text of Balaam, the prophet who confronted the wandering Israelites in Numbers 22-24

A copper scroll from Qumran & the Dead Sea

A Dead Sea scroll

Head Coverings

Nearly all Jordanian women, Muslim & Christian alike, wear a head covering such as this. Some wear a veil as well or even a burqa with only a lace window opening to see through. This covering is almost as much a cultural thing as it is a religious thing. Accordingly, some women choose not to wear a head covering (see, for example, pictures of Jordan's queens)

Jordanian Military Bagpipers at Jerash

No, you are not seeing things.....well, actually you are! You're seeing Jordanian soldiers playing Scottish bagpipes in the Roman amphitheater in Jerash. Don't forget that the British controlled this area for many years after WW I and that Jordan's late King Hussein was educated in England and loved sound of the bagpipes

The Royal Family is Watching

Wherever you go in Jordan you will see a picture of the current King Abdullah, sometimes with his wife or, in this case, with his children, too. While posting a picture of the King on the wall of a hotel lobby is a personal and patriotic gesture as well as a nod to the King's near absolute authority. Even so, the Jordanian people are sincerely and warmly proud of their Hashimite royal family, directly descended from the Prophet Muhammed himself

Here is King Abdullah alongside his late father, the late revered King Hussein

Camel

What can I say? This is a camel

mannequin

As I took this picture at around 10:00 pm in Amman a group of college-age boys walked by. One of them said, "That's what a typical Jordanian looks like!" If you look closely you will find that the label on the back of the shirt says, "Boy Scouts of America" Why? I have no idea! The next night the mannequin was still outside the same store but in a different place and in a different pose. Personally, I enjoyed seeing this little slice of local humor

Crescent Moon & Venus Over the Dead Sea

This scene over the Dead Sea, with a crescent moon and a star (Venus, actually), struck me as appropriate while touring through a Muslim country!


Poetry

Petra

Dead Red sandstone
Cliffs and Suq
Nabatean dust
in graven tombs

Unknown gods
haunt fallen temples
made with
human hands

Squawking hawkers
mock their wares
with tin-full silver,
truthless coin

While underfoot the
broken shards of
thousand years times two
are offered free

The tombs are empty
now their edifice
a mask to hide
the void of death

But life can still
emerge as from a womb
when sunburnt girl is
born within a grave

A Babel in reverse
can yet unite
what pride and sin
did once divide

Like tesserae once
dead and buried
brought to life
and light again

The hopes and dreams
of hearts long stilled
still beat in
Petra's heart of stone

Living Bread

One piece of pita bread
Fresh from the oven and warm

Money in hand to pay
Baker's boys stand in the way.

Smiling they pose for me
Laughter is offered for free

So, too, the pita bread
Given as grace-gift instead.

Hand touches Baker's heart
Breathing salaam as we part.

Sunset at Jerash

Artemis' desecrated temple
Roofless, fallen, bare
Her holy place once more defiled
As unclean feet stand there.

Her soaring columns touch the sky
In silhouetted glory
Apollo sets in golden fire
And guilds her fallen story

Mount Nebo

Forty years of privilege
As Pharaoh's kith and kin
Traded for the legacy
Of Israel's blood within

Forty years of desert toil
While eating humble bread.
Convicted by a burning bush
To do God's will instead

Forty years of freedom spent
In faithless wandering
Yet inching towards the Promised Land
Where God would rule as King

Standing on the mountain top
The land beneath his feet
His eye not dim but wet with tears
His legacy complete