Thursday, August 24, 2017

Birds of Song


The Robin 
Kahlil Gibran

O Robin, sing! For the secret of eternity is in song.
I wish I were as you, free from prisons and chains.
I wish I were as you; a soul flying over the valleys,
Sipping the light as wine is sipped from ethereal cups.
I wish I were as you, innocent, contented and happy.
Ignoring the future and forgetting the past.
I wish I were as you in beauty, grace and elegance
With the wind spreading my wings for adornment by the dew.
I wish I were as you in beauty, a thought floating above the land
Pouring out my songs between the forest and the sky.O Robin, sing!
and disperse my anxiety. listen to the voice within your voice
that whispers in my inner ear;”

Rockin Robin Jackson 5 


Peacock
  • The Indian peafowl or blue peafowl is a large and brightly coloured bird, is a species of peafowl native to South Asia, but introduced in many other parts of the world. The male, or peacock, is predominantly blue with a fan-like crest of  feathers.
  • Peacock symbolism: Vision, Royalty, Spirituality, Awakening, Guidance, Protection, & Watchfulness. In Greco-Roman mythology the Peacock tail has the "eyes" of the stars. In Hinduism, the Peacock is associated with Lakshmi who represents patience, kindness and luck.
  • Ancient Greeks believed that the flesh of peafowl did not decay after death, and so it became a symbol of immortality. This symbolism was adopted by early Christianity, and thus many early Christian paintings and mosaics show the peacock.
  • The pride of the Peacock is the glory of God  William Blake
  • The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of its tail. Amitendranath Tagore

Elvis and his Peacock jumpsuit which sold for $300,000 in 2008 


Double Barred Finch
 

Wings
  • Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. Plato
  • Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven. Michel Angelo
  • Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings. Victor Hugo
  • Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.” Salvador Dali
  • The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings. J.M.Barrie
  • Pan, who and what art thou?" he cried huskily"I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg.
  • Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if  no birds sang there except those that sang best. Henry Van Dyke
  • Heavenly bodies are nests of invisible birds

Spotted Turtle Dove 

The Wings of a Dove
Dolly Parton


Galah 

Songbird
Fleetwood Mac


Lorikeet 
 

When the Bluebird is on the Wind 
Elvis rare live performance 



Monday, May 15, 2017

Poe Poetry and Pied Stilts

 Pied Stilts on Pumicestone Passage
The Pied Stilt is a black and white wading bird with very long legs. It is common around wetlands and coastal areas throughout Australia and New Zealand. Their calls are most often high pitched yapping alarm sounds. Pied Stilts  tend to stay in groups throughout the year. They feed together and roost together in large flocks. They often associate with other waders, feeding and roosting alongside and flying with birds such as oystercatchers and godwits. Both parents build the nest on the ground near water and incubate the 3 or 4 eggs, which hatch after 25 days. The chicks  leave the nest at around 32 days old.


Passage from Poe's 
Alone   


Lines from Poe
  • I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
  • There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportion.
  • Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.
  • It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.
  • I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active, not more happy ,nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.
  • There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.
 
Edgar Allan Poe Bio
Born in Boston 19th January 1809 and Died 7th October 1849
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. His mother Elizabeth left her husband after Edgar was born and then she unfortunately past away when he was only two. He was adopted by Mr and Mrs John Allan. Between the ages of 6 and 12 Edgar spent his school years in England before going back to the Allan,s . Edgar went to University of Virginia and began to drink heavily before joining the army. The Allan's were quite wealthy but when John Allan died nothing was left for Edgar in the will so he struggled financially. In 1835 Edgar got his big break when he won a competition with his story,Manuscript in a Bottle and gained employment as an editor for a newspaper.
Poes Poems '
  The Raven


The Raven Narrated by Christopher Lee 




Saturday, March 4, 2017


Kahlil Gibran
     Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese artist, poet, and writer who died in 1931. He is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao Tzu.  Elvis Presley is known for his gift giving of cars,houses and jewellery but in the early sixties he also handed out many of Gibrans books to family, friends and fans. While John Lennon included a line from Gibrans Poem, Sand And Foam in the Beatles song Julia. Its a strong possibility that John F Kennedy in his inaugural address took a passage from Gibrans, A New Frontier. Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country?
Kahlil writings has had a big influence on my life and I think his influence stretches alot further than many think. 

Some of My Favourite Gibran Passages 


  • They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.
  • There must be something unusually sacred in salt if it is contained in our tears and in the sea
  • Our worst fault is our preoccupation with the faults of others
  •  Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.  
  • The song of the voice is sweet, but the song of the heart is the pure voice of heaven. 
  •  Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. 
  • Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife. 
  •  In a single drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.
Gibran on Children
  • They came thru you but not from you & though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
Let these be your desires
To wake at dawn with a winged heart
and give thanks for another day of loving 
  • Many times the Christ has come to the world, and He has walked many lands. And always He has been deemed a stranger and a madman.

Friday, February 17, 2017

     Currimundi Lake is a saltwater lake situated beside Currimundi Beach on the Sunshine Coast. The lake is ideal for family canoeing.The park protects coastal plant of  wallum heathland, woodlands and dune plant communities.The coastal heath and woodland also supports many native bird species. Wildflowers are best viewed in late winter and spring.








Monday, February 6, 2017

Tectocoris diophthalmus, 
commonly known as the Hibiscus Harlequin Bug or Cotton Harlequin Bug