Jordan = Beautiful

We're in Jordan and I only have time to upload a few pictures and briefly gush over Petra and this beautiful desert. I never imagined the desert could be this scenic, but all the places we've visited, whether they be Crusader fortresses or Mt. Nebo, have been surrounded by gorgeous desert landscapes. (Unfortunately, my camera fails to capture its vastness.) Luckily, John William Burgon can.

Petra (1845)

It seems no work of Man's creative hand,
By labor wrought as wavering fancy planned;
But from the rock as if by magic grown,
Eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!
Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine,
Where erst Athena held her rites divine;
Not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane,
That crowns the hill and consecrates the plain;
But rose-red as if the blush of dawn,
That first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;
The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,
Which Man deemed old two thousand years ago.
Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,
A rose-red city half as old as time.

-Burgon

(Can't upload my pictures, the internet is too slow!)