Nighttime on Still Waters

Mist brings with it such a special quality of texture and light. It was glorious today.

😃

Remember seeing many years ago a similar event. This time the group formed a wide circle with the individual in the middle. Each crow participated in turns in the killing. It was traumatising to watch and still haunts me. However, there was clear communal process going on there.

"While damp eats the silence between" - gorgeous!!

Inversion mist
Wraps the forest
Of street lamps
And traffic lights
In a soft smudge
Of pastels.

Suddenly two swans
Beat low over the city traffic
Silhouetted in a chalk-dust sky
Of mauves and pinks.

That quickening leap
Of the heart
And the sense of home.

#DailyNature #swans #city #nature

Thank you!

Thank you very much, Natty

Thank you so much, Tiffany!

Thank you, Jen. Yes, a tinge of sadness or melancholy does seem to hang in the air at the moment.

Aw, thank you so much. I really appreciate your kind words.

That's beautiful! I love the framing between tree branches and that gorgeous old oak on the right. A wonderful sense of timelessness here. Thank you!

Thank you, Charlie!

Full moon
Begins to wane
As she nestles
Into the west

Newsfeed
Brings
Fresh
Layers
Of
Pain
And
Grief

The call and response
Of mother and lamb
Benedictine antiphonies
To greet the dawn

#DailyNature

They can swim and might lack that innate fear/caution. The problem is that the sides are sheer and they struggle getting out. Roe deer are small, so I wasn't frightened. It clearly had been treading water for a long time. Even though exhausted,the problem was that it kept swimming out of reach.

New growth emerging from the matted silty water. A burst of emerald green and life.

How does the green come?

It comes from
The seeming dead
The rotten
The broken
The slimy
The disregarded
The unphotographed.

That is how the green comes.

#DailyNature #ukcanals #plants #spring

Around here, deer (roe and muntjac) are also fairly common. The downside is that they sometimes fall in. A couple of years ago, I rescued one who had fallen into a lock.

Narrowboat at night by Dru Marland

Yes, I agree. Jill Barklem's books tap into something deep and enduring.
Have you seen Dru Marland's work. They're a little different to this, but they are rather special to me.

Illustration from Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge series

Aw, I love this. I expect you already know Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge series. This reminds me of it.

My pleasure and I hope you will all enjoy it as much as I have,

It's a wonderful book and you get a really rich feel for this complex and gentle man who in the most humble and courageous way seemed to touch the lives of so many, poor and rich, elite and despised. Through his writing you also get a lovely sense of place too. I am sure you'd love it!

Apropos of everything, this is a beautiful account to follow from a kind and luminous person. Wishing safety, peace, mercy, grace...

'Under a thousand towering pines
Cloistered in deep green shade
Steam from a pine-cone fire billows
I'm buried inside a white cloud.
Often I sit here under these trees
Then leave without any earnings,
Again today I face the oine breeze
Sitting alone with my unsold tea.'

Baisaō (trans. N. Waddell)

Cover of Norman Waddell's book Baisaō: The Old Tea Seller. Containing biography and extensive annotated translations of his poetry and writings.

Back blurb of Norman Waddell's book Baisaō

I have been really enjoying meeting and getting to know Baisaō (Old Tea Seller). Like Ryokan and Ikkya, he was a man who lived in politically troubled times and refused to let the rigid constraints of religion and social mores bind him. His life continues to speak to many.
#zen

An early spring mosaic of green growth. Emerald moss, jewelled with moisture, lie in soft pillows alongside couch and aram. The chestnut browns and burgundies of last summers leave nestled in patchwork comfort. This is how the years slip together

It's a wetting mizzle
The type that drenches clothes
And decorates alder and plum
With perfect globes of glass,
But leaves the waters' surface
Untouched; a shimmering mirror.
It's like the embrace of hope.

#naturewriting #naturepoetry #hope #rain #plants

Thanks for posting. I'd forgotten this.

Thank you Natty

Another jagged night;
A rough crossing.
Wake tired.
Get to work early.
The campus is hunched dark
And filled with sleep.

We both await
The dawn
With its
Magnificence of magpies.

#naturewriting #birds #dawn #sleeplessnights

Hear, hear!! A sentiment that could be applied to so many other issues relating to the environment.

Haha, yes, if only all that energy and activity could be harnessed!! 🤣

Thank you, Ana. Yes, you're right.