When I first took this photo last year, I didn't like it. The colors seemed too pastel, too soft, especially in light of my dread and terror at crossing the bridge.
But last night I took a second look. Suddenly, I saw how the tree and Hawthorne play off one another - similar forms, both evoking delicacy and impermanence. I realized: the photo had come out true after all.
The Hawthorne always seems so delicate to me, like the loose, thready canopy and drooping branches of the tree. Maybe because of the steel grids - how you can see the water beneath as you cross, listen to the whistle of tires (almost like wind through a cracked window in the middle of the night, or a mysterious bird, or a ghost.) Maybe because I know how old the structure really is - that it cannot possibly hold.
The photo captures my terror after all.
So it is possible to catch a moment of pure dread at peace? For if this shows my dread, it sure feels peaceful all the same.