Tears in the Sand

This image was inspired by the Persian myth of a man named Ferhad who went into the desert to die because he was rejected by the woman he loved.  As his tears fell to the ground, tulips sprang from the sand.  The myth reminds me of the Southern American myth of the Cherokee Rose, the State flower of Georgia, produced by the tears of Indians along the Trail of Tears.  Interesting, isn't it, how themes of myths are repeated across cultures and centuries, often speaking to forms of resurrection, good prevailing over evil, joy produced from pain, blessings found in places of complete defeat with no escape.

There is an energy in pain.  When it is born, endured and reorganized, this energy has the potential for forming the greatest gift of beauty.  Frehad could have engaged in many destructive responses to the betrayal he experienced, even including taking his own life.  But by enduring the pain and engaging in the brutal honesty of tears in his powerlessness, he was the first person to see the magnificent beauty of the tulip.  At that startling moment of resurrection blessing I suspect Ferhad could not so much as remember the name of his betrayer.