The fortress.

HOWEVER HAZARDOUS THE DEVELOPMENT of love may be, love itself is a certain blessing. To love means to put someone or something before oneself, to rise above the pettiness of the ego, and in that we can never go amiss. Ken Kiff shows a very bleak world indeed. The sky is the darkest black, and even the moon or sun is a clouded ball. In its occluded illumination we can make out a shriveled tree, as stark as seaweed, and beside it a pale rock. In this arid world, a flower lifts up its leaves in a gesture of rejoicing. Its petals glow with sweet vitality: Whatever else is dead here, this small bloom is joyfully and brightly alive. Love, in fact, cannot be extinguished. No black sky or dying trees can affect its inner radiance.

By SISTER WENDY BECKETT of Norfolk, England, well-known for her BBC and PBS television art series and her popular art books. Reprinted with permission from: Sister Wendy's Book of Meditations (DK Publishing, 1998; 888-342-5357). Painting: Flower and Black Sky, 1987-88, Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London.