Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts

Friday, August 1, 2025

August


This was its promise, held to faithfully: 
The early morning sun came in this way 
Until the angle of its saffron beam
Between the curtains and the sofa lay, 

 And with its ochre* heat it spread across 
The village houses, and the nearby wood, 
Upon my bed and on my dampened pillow 
And to the corner where the bookcase stood. 

Then I recalled the reason why my pillow 
Had been so dampened by those tears that fell-
I'd dreamt I saw you coming one by one 
Across the wood to wish me your farewell. 
Marie Byars photography, Phoenix Arizona, Peoria Arizona, sunset
You came in ones and twos, a straggling crowd; 
Then suddenly someone mentioned a word: 
It was the sixth of August, by Old Style**, 
And the Transfiguration of Our Lord***. 

For from Mount Tabor*** usually this day 
There comes a light without a flame to shine
And autumn draws all eyes upon itself 
As clear and unmistaken as a sign.****

But you came forward through the tiny, stripped, 
The pauperly and trembling alder grove, 
Into the graveyard's coppice, russet-red*****
Which, like stamped gingerbread, lay there and glowed. 

 And with the silence of those high treetops 
Was neighbour only the imposing sky 
And in the echoed crowing of the cocks 
The distances and distances rang by: 

There in the churchyard underneath the trees, 
Like some surveyor from the government 
Death gazed on my pale face to estimate 
How large a grave would suit my measurement

All those who stood there could distinctly hear
A quiet voice emerge from where I lay: 
The voice was mine, my past; prophetic words 
That sounded now, unsullied by decay:

'Farewell, wonder of azure and of gold,
Surrounding the Transfiguration's power: 
Assuage now with a woman's last caress 
The bitterness of my predestined hour! 

'Farewell timeless expanse of passing years!
Farewell, woman who flung your challenge steeled 
Against the abyss of humiliations: 
For it is I who am your battlefield! 

'Farewell, you span of open wings outspread, 
The voluntary obstinacy of flight, 
O figure of the world revealed in speech, 
Creative genius, wonder-working might!'
--Boris Pasternak [author of Dr. Zhivago], 1890-1960

*ochre--  deep orange-y brown
**adjusted calendar:  Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar in 1582.  Due to the way leap days had been inserted, there had been "seasonal creep."  About 11 days were taken out of the calendar, readjusting dates, and leap days were no longer inserted in years that are divisible by 100 (i.e. 1700), unless they are also divisible by 400 (i.e. 2000).  
   Protestant-dominated countries were slower to adopt the calendar. Great Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian Calendar in September of 1752.  You may have heard that Washington's birthday 'moved'?
   Eastern Orthodox countries were even slower to adopt the new calendar, which most did for purely civic, non-church purposes. Within Orthodox churches, the 'old calendar' is often still used.
***Feast of Transfiguration/Mt. Tabor.  Eastern Orthodox churches celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration on the 6th of August.  Lutherans used to use this date, also. Transfiguration is the event where Jesus shone forth brightly on a mountaintop.  Many Christian traditions suggested this was Mt. Tabor.
      Roman Catholics set the date as the last Sunday before Lent. This is when Lutherans now celebrate it. This makes sense, as the event was one of the final ones before Jesus travelled to Jerusalem to give His life for the world.
****August giving way to autumn.  Not really a factor where I currently live but it is in many places.
*****russet red coppice--  russet is a dark-brown color with reddish or even orange tinges; a coppice is an area where trees have been cut down to stumps, often to encourage the growth of other plants or trees

Sunday, December 1, 2024

Fum Fum Fum

 
On December 25th** sing
Fum, fum, fum*.
On December 25th sing
Fum, fum, fum.
He is born of God's pure love,       
The Son of God, the Son of God;
He is born of Virgin Mary
On this night so cold** and dreary.
Fum, fum, fum.

     
Birds of every forest grove sing
Fum, fum, fum. 
Birds of every forest grove sing
Fum, fum, fum. 
All your fledglings on the bough,
Oh, leave them now, oh, leave them now;
For to make a downy cover
For our Jesus, round Him hover.
Fum, fum, fum.  

Shining stars from heav'n above, sing
Fum, fum, fum. 
Shining stars from heav'n above, sing
Fum, fum, fum. 
Oh, come rejoice, oh, come rejoice;
Come and light the night's obscureness
With your light and dazzling pureness.
Fum, fum, fum.    
--Traditional Spanish Catalan carol (one of many translations)  

*"Fum" [pronounced "foom"], an imitation of strumming guitars and other stringed instruments; possibly also suggesting the rocking of the cradle.
**We don't know what date or time of year Jesus was born.  (Some modern writers assert it was in August, due to supposed clues in the text, but this is not known for sure.)  This date was chosen to give people who converted to Christianity an opportunity to carry on old light festivals with new meanings.  Many carols reflect their European settings far more than the realities of 1st century Bethlehem.


Friday, November 1, 2024

All Things Bright & Beautiful

 
Refrain: 
All things bright and beautiful,  
 All creatures great and small, 
All things wise and wonderful, 
The Lord God made them all. 

Each little flow'r that opens,
Each little bird that sings, 
He made their glowing colors, 
He made their tiny wings. [Refrain]  
The purple-headed mountain 
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning 
That brightens up the sky. [Refrain]  
Pen & Ink, Paint 3D, Marie Byars art

The cold wind in the winter
The pleasant summer sun
The ripe fruits in the garden
He made them every one. [Refrain
cornucopia, colored pencil art, Dollar Tree coloring book
He gave us eyes to see them, 
And lips that we might tell 
How great is God Almighty, 
Who has made all things well. [Refrain]
-Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848 [female]

Thursday, August 1, 2024

The Lord Will Provide

Though troubles assail 
And dangers affright, 
Though friends should all fail 
And foes all unite; 
Yet one thing secures us, 
Whatever betide, 
The scripture assures us, 
The Lord will provide. 

The birds without barn 
Or storehouse are fed, 
From them let us learn 
To trust for our bread: 
His saints, what is fitting, 
Shall ne’er be denied, 
So long as ’tis written, 
The Lord will provide.


We may, like the ships, 
By tempest be tossed 
On perilous deeps, 
But cannot be lost. 
Though Satan enrages 
The wind and the tide, 
The promise engages, 
The Lord will provide. 

His call we obey 
Like Abram of old, 
Not knowing our way, 
But faith makes us bold; 
For though we are strangers 
We have a good Guide, 
And trust in all dangers, 
The Lord will provide. 

When Satan appears 
To stop up our path, 
And fill us with fears, 
We triumph by faith; 
He cannot take from us, 
Though oft he has tried, 
This heart–cheering promise, 
The Lord will provide. 

He tells us we’re weak, 
Our hope is in vain, 
The good that we seek 
We ne’er shall obtain, 
But when such suggestions 
Our spirits have plied, 
This answers all questions, 
The Lord will provide. 

No strength of our own, 
Or goodness we claim, 
Yet since we have known 
The Savior’s great name; 
In this our strong tower 
For safety we hide, 
The Lord is our power, 
The Lord will provide. 

When life sinks apace 
And death is in view, 
This word of his grace 
Shall comfort us through: 
No fearing or doubting 
With Christ on our side, 
We hope to die shouting, 
The Lord will provide.
 —John Newton (1725-1807) from Olney Hymns, 1779 [author of "Amazing Grace"]


Monday, July 1, 2024

Trees

 
I think that I shall never see
A poem [as] lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is presst
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair; 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
  ---Joyce Kilmer, 1915  







Monday, April 1, 2024

Spring Arrives

             
For, see, the Winter is past:
Its rain is over and gone away.
The flowers appear in the land;
The time of singing has arrived,
And the voice of the turtledove 
               is heard in our land.
The fig tree gives out her green figs,
And the vines, the tender grapes,
Give a good smell.

--Song of Solomon 2: 11-13a  
   (translated c.m.b., 2024)



Monday, January 1, 2024

The Months

 
January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain*,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes large and shrill,
Stirs the dancing daffodil.



April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy damns.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers**.

August brings the sheaves of corn***,
Then the harvest home is borne.



Warm September brings the fruit,
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasants,
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.


Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet*,
Blazing fire and Christmas treat. 
     ---Sara Coleridge (1802-1852)

     English writer Sara Coleridge is most known as the only daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and an editor of his work, particularly after her father and her husband died.  However, she was an author and translator in her own right.
     In the 21st century, a discovery of over 100 of her unpublished poems was made.  A lecturer at University College, London, Dr. Swaab, discovered them in the Coleridge manuscripts and published them in 2007.

*Many places in the northern hemisphere will still snow in December & February. The British Isles, being smallish and surrounded by water, do not always have the conditions for snow.

**Gillyflowers:  most often, another term for "carnations", though the term may be applied to other flowers,

***Corn: old-school, Old World, meant "wheat" (whereas New World "corn" was called some variant of "maize.")

****Though this poem is not overtly religious, Sara was.  She opposed the Oxford Movement (Tractarian Movement), in the 1840s.  The movement led to an Anglican Church that was more "high church" or more similar to Roman Catholicism, as opposed to other protestant ideas present in England.  [Gerard Manly Hopkins, whose work is featured elsewhere in this blog, did approve of the Tractarian Movement.  Eventually he went so far as to formally become Roman Catholic.]

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Consider*


Consider 
The lilies of the field whose bloom is brief:--
We are as they;
Like them we fade away,
As doth a leaf.

Consider 
The sparrows of the air of small account:
Our God doth view
Whether they fall or mount**--
He guards us, too.

Consider 
The lilies that do neither toil nor spin,
Yet are most fair:--
What profits all this care
And all this coil***?


Consider 
The birds that have no barns nor harvest-weeks;
God gives them food:--
Much more our Father seeks
To do us good.   --Christina Rossetti, 1866  

*"consider the lilies and the birds [ravens]"; Luke 12:22-31, Matthew 6:25-33
**mount the wing, take flight
***mortal coil: this fleshly, physical life

Friday, April 1, 2022

An Easter Carol

               
                Spring bursts to-day,
For Christ is risen and all the earth's at play.
nature rejoicing, colored pencil art, Dollar Tree coloring book

                Flash forth, thou Sun,The rain is over and gone, its work is done.                Winter is past,Sweet Spring is come at last, is come at last.


                Bud, Fig and Vine,Bud, Olive, fat with fruit and oil and wine*.                Break forth this mornIn roses, thou but yesterday a Thorn**.                Uplift thy head,pure white Lily through the Winter dead.                Beside your damsLeap and rejoice, you merry-making Lambs.                All Herds and FlocksRejoice, all Beasts of thickets and of rocks.                Sing, Creatures, sing,Angels and Men and Birds and everything.                All notes of DovesFill all our world: this is the time of loves.    

                                                 -Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894)

  

*Habakkuk chapter 3
**Compares the flowerless rose, all thorns "just yesterday", to the contrast between Good Friday, when the Lord died, to the blossom of His resurrection on Easter.


Tuesday, February 1, 2022

To a Beautiful Child*

 
...thy book
Is cliff, and wood, and foaming waterfall;
Thy playmates-- the wild sheep and birds that call
Hoarse to the storm; -- thy sport is with the storm
To wrestle; -- and thy piety to stand
Musing on things create, and their Creator's hand.
 --Manley Hopkins (father of poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.), c. 1875


Valentine's Day is for more than "couples' love."  In fact, the legends of the original Saints Valentine (there were up to three men possibly) were about sacrificial, spiritual love. This is a good time to reflect on other types of love.