Doorway, Carmel

It was late afternoon.
I had been wandering through dark, history-filled rooms
      in the Mission San Carlos Borromeo, overlooking the Carmel River.
At one point I welcomed the chance to step through the open door
      into the California sunshine.
I stood looking at the courtyard and the gardens
      as my eyes adjusted to the new light.
I started to move down the sidewalk when something said, “Look back.”
Turning, this is what I saw.
My friend Steve calls a scene like this a “freebie.”
There is it in all its glory, so unexpected, so uncalled for!
It’s a freebie.
How those colors work so wonderfully together against that wall
      made of seashells!
It’s a freebie.
And how that door leads both your eye and your mind somewhere beyond!
I stood there for a minute or so,
      doing with my camera what has become second nature.
Then I moved on down the sidewalk,
      wondering where my next freebie would be waiting.
I knew that if I stayed open, with my mind as well as my eyes,
      freebies would be waiting just about anywhere.