On a 1200-foot span of retaining wall on the east bank of the Schuylkill River, just beyond three high sculptures of angels dancing above, stretches a long mysterious set of words. Written in letters that only become clear as you approach, and fade quickly as you pass, it’s sort of Philly’s Middle Earth; winged creatures and disappearing poetry along the water. “The fact that mystery is connected to all art is a connection that should be respected,” says Tom Chimes, one of the two men responsible for this piece, a poem by Stephen Berg titled “Sleeping Woman.”

Chimes painted the poem on the wall in 1991. The letters are written in multiple coats of polyurethane. They’re clear, and some parts are missing altogether. When sections of the wall collapsed during a flood, both artists insisted that the lost sections of poem not be replaced, that their piece was meant to exist within natural circumstance. The allowance for decay only loans credence to the wonderful fantasy aspects of this area, and you can easily imagine Tolkien stopping to rest here if he jogged the loop!

Here’s a video about “Sleeping Woman” I found on the Fairmount Park Art Association’s site