Fotografaire - Blog and Photography

Poetry and Chrysanthemums

I love chrysanthemums, love their frivolous looking blooms in my garden. I love how they like to receive attention, and how they perk their pretty faces up when I walk by them. I enjoy their varied colors, from pink to yellow, to rust and multicolors, each one a treasure in itself. I love their scent on a still hot day, and love how they continue to bloom through fall, when the last blossoms of summer have left us. I like that they don’t need much water, during this terrible time of drought. I love that they create vibrancy and joy in my garden.

I found this poem, earlier today, and thought it was lovely.
Chrysanthemum - Written by Hattie L. Knapp

The rose is called the queen of flowers,
Surrounded by her sisters fair,
A lovely throng of beauties rare,
She holds her court ‘mid summer bowers,
‘Neath smiling skies of sunny blue,
Gayly they bloom the summer through
Brightening all the golden hours.
But when the autumn days have come
Then blooms our sweet Chrysanthemum.

As we watch the summer days depart
And the painted leaves in silence fall,
And the vines are dead upon the wall;
A dreamy sadness fills each heart,
Our garden seems a dreary place,
No brilliant flowers its borders grace,
Save in a sheltered nook apart,
Where gay beneath the autumn sun
Blooms our own Chrysanthemum.

Ah! she is not a “Summer Friend,”
She stays when all the rest have flown,
And left us flowerless and alone;
No singing birds, or blooms to lend
Their brightness to the autumn haze,
‘Tis she who cheers the dreary days;
‘Tis joy to know so sweet a friend;
No fairer flower blooms ‘neath the sun
Than autumn’s queen Chrysanthemum.

~~Notes From the Garden

Blog Against Abuse

The first half of Auguries of Innocence, by William Blake encompasses many forms of abuse, and I thought it was a fitting poem, and that the words were relevant, in order to Blog Against Abuse.
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.

A dove-house fill’d with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro’ all its regions.
A dog starv’d at his master’s gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.

A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.

A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm’d for fight
Does the rising sun affright.

Every wolf’s and lion’s howl
Raises from hell a human soul.

The wild deer, wand’ring here and there,
Keeps the human soul from care.
The lamb misus’d breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butcher’s knife.

The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won’t believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever’s fright.

He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be belov’d by men.
He who the ox to wrath has mov’d
Shall never be by woman lov’d.

The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider’s enmity.
He who torments the chafer’s sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.

The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother’s grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the last judgement draweth nigh.

He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar’s dog and widow’s cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.

Treat all creatures of the Earth with respect, love and care. No matter our size or species, whether human, animal, plant or the earth, we are all one, under the planetary umbrella. Each one of us is significant and a part of the universal whole.

Bloggers Against Abuse

Bloggers Unite

Help to stop abuse in any form, whether it be child abuse, elderly abuse, animal abuse or ozone abuse.

dictionary.com definitions for abuse:

a·buse /v. əˈbyuz; n. əˈbyus/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[v. uh-byooz; n. uh-byoos] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, a·bused, a·bus·ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to use wrongly or improperly; misuse: to abuse one’s authority.
2. to treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way: to abuse a horse; to abuse one’s eyesight.
3. to speak insultingly, harshly, and unjustly to or about; revile; malign.
4. to commit sexual assault upon.
5. Obsolete. to deceive or mislead.
–noun
6. wrong or improper use; misuse: the abuse of privileges.
7. harshly or coarsely insulting language: The officer heaped abuse on his men.
8. bad or improper treatment; maltreatment: The child was subjected to cruel abuse.
9. a corrupt or improper practice or custom: the abuses of a totalitarian regime.
10. rape or sexual assault.
11. Obsolete. deception.

See Me

See Me

What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
Are you thinking, when you look at me –
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply,
When you say in a loud voice — “I do wish you’d try.”

Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe,
Who unresisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.

Is that what you’re thinking, is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse, you’re looking at ME…
I’ll tell you who I am, as I sit here so still;
As I rise at your bidding, as I eat at your will.

I’m a small child of ten with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who love one another,
A young girl of sixteen with wings on her feet.
Dreaming that soon now a lover she’ll meet;
A bride soon at twenty — my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep;
At twenty-five now I have young of my own,
Who need me to build a secure, happy home;
A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last;
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man’s beside me to see I don’t mourn;
At fifty once more babies play ’round my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead,
I look at the future, I shudder with dread,
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I’ve known;
I’m an old woman now and nature is cruel –
‘Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.

The body is crumbled, grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone where once I had a heart,
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I’m loving and living life over again,
I think of the years, all too few — gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last –
So I open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
Not a crabby old woman, look closer, nurses — see ME!

This poem was found among the possessions of an elderly lady who died in the geriatric ward of a hospital. No information is available concerning her — who she was or when she died. Reprinted from the “Assessment and Alternatives Help Guide” prepared by the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care

Bloggers Against Abuse

Bloggers Unite

Help to stop abuse in any form, whether it be child abuse, elderly abuse, animal abuse or ozone abuse.

Shaded in Blue

I visited my friend, RubyShooZ, this morning and was delighted to find this wonderful link to a slideshow of incredible, amazing and serene photographs entitled Shades of Blue.

Blue Wall, by bebelka

Boat Border, by Marc Pelissier

From tranquil architectural perspectives to the serenity of nature, and everything in between, this overwhelming slide show is not to be missed.  Each photograph is a metaphor for tranquility, calming environments and blissful meditating moments.

Wisp

You all know how much I love flowers…whether blooming ones, blossoms that are full and colorful, blossoms at the end of their season, buds, and even a floral wisp. I liked the delicate look of the flower below, and the wisp-like look that it evoked within me. I visited dictionary.com in order to make sure I was using the word wisp correctly with the photograph below.

According to dictionary.com one of the definitions of the word wisp is: any thin tuft, lock, mass, etc.: wisps of hair. So, yes, I was using the word correctly.

I then decided to do a search on the word wisp to see what I came up with. Here are five sources out of 3,830,000 results that showed up.
Willow Wisp Farm Studios This is a gallery and “home to the Western North Carolina Plein Air Painters.
World Institute for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP)

“The World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP) is a global initiative that supports the empowerment of pastoralists to sustainably manage drylands resources.”

Women in Science Project (WISP) is at Dartmouth College, fostering women is science.

The Wide-filed Imaging Survey Polarimeter (WISP) WISP is a “suborbital rocket payload telescope”.Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISP) Check out wisp.org for more information on these providers.