Hope & Healing Through Photography and Poetic Expression

Posts tagged “nature

Gratify

“I come
To answer thy pleasure; be’t to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl’d clouds, to thy strong bidding task…”

William Shakespeare
The Tempest


Classic Joy

In that pure perfect zone
Excited and free,

Wet luscious sand
Meets a vibrating sea;

Senses are flowing
Sights, textures, and sound,

 As he makes his great mark,
In God’s timeless
playground.
~~~~

 Robyn Lee


Liberty

“Life without liberty is like a
body without spirit.”

~ Kahil Gibran


Wishing You and Yours a very
Happy Independence Day!!

Much Love,

Robyn Lee


Points of Origin

“From the first place of liquid darkness, within the second place of air and light,
I set down the following record with its mixture of fact and truths and memories
of truths and its direction toward the Third Place,
where the starting point is myth.”

~Janet Frame, To The Is Land

~~~

*Janet Frame, novelist and poet, was born in Dunedin, New Zealand. She was one of five children born to a railway engineer and his wife. She spent her childhood in Oamaru.

Over her lifetime, she wrote eleven novels, four collections of short stories, a book of poetry, an edition of juvenile fiction, and three volumes of autobiography. Since her death, a twelfth novel, a second volume of poetry, and a handful of short stories have been released. Frame’s celebrity is informed by her dramatic personal history as well as her literary career.



The 12th Cascade

On this day
His year begins;

There’s birthday cake
Food, games and grins.

He blows his trumpet
Gifts us with tunes;

Sister accompanies on guitar,
Till guests are aswooned.

 When celebrations are over
And all has been said,

He greets his 12th year
By cascading his head!

~Robyn Lee

Dedicated with love to my niece and nephew
on their 12th birthdays
today!

~Aunt Robyn Lee


Visibility

“The finest and most intricate details are often
imperceptible from a distance.”

~Robyn Lee


Shadow Lover


Take me to the green in you

The secret valley beneath the sun

Hidden behind the whispering ghosts

Of whom you pretend to be

Open up your mossy arms

So I may open mine

And wrap all limbs round your spirit wide

To exist as half no more

Bring me to your mossy floor

Beneath the shadows of your fear

A raven bride in white

A ladder to your soul

Fold down your branches

Peel open your chocolate bark

So I may pour

As liquid amber

Through your very veins

——————
by, Sam Craft

I am thrilled to share this collaborative project with you today. Special thanks to Sam of of  Everyday Asperger’s, who penned this stunning piece entitled The Raven Bride in White at the most perfect time to accompany my beloved shadow image.

Hope you enjoyed!

Much Love ~ Robyn Lee



Resist Not

She concedes at last
’twas all for naught;

The knowing she craves
Cannot be sought.

Nothing to fight
Nor push against;

She lets down her guard
No resist, or defense.

When tomorrow is born
She will sense life anew;

For it’s only to Self
That she need remain true.

~Robyn Lee


Prayer

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul.
It is daily admission of one’s weakness.
It is better in prayer to have a heart without words,
than words without heart.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi


Master Plan

Minds churn,
Hearts in huddle;

Conspiring,
within a salt puddle.

United they plot, and
Bravely they face;

Their task: to make the world
a much better place.

~Robyn Lee


Cloud Rhapsody

 “I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;

I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.”

The Cloud ~ by, Percy Bysshe Shelley 

I invite you to read Shelley’s poem ‘The Cloud’ in all of  its glorious entirety here
The Cloud ~ by, Percy Bysshe Shelley 


Desire Thee Peony

Asleep,

On a balmy
Bed

of

Lush green
Potential;

Sensual aroma
Awakens,

Thirsty roots
Wait,

Delicate petals
Open

as

Sweet Desire
Becomes.

~~~~

Robyn Lee

 

 

One of the most sensual flowers with a delicious scent, the peony
has long been used in feng shui as a cure for love & romance. This
especially applies to a couple of pink peonies. The symbol of peony
is often considered a metaphor for female beauty.

*source: About.com



Joyous Surrender (a sequel)

“And when the mind finds its perfect state of joy,
the whole universe plays along.”

~ Robyn Lee

As a sequel to my earlier post Stillness, wanted to share this shot of a happy child, one of the few souls who remained on the beach as the storm approached Sunday.  He seemed to be immersed in fun… and suppose it’s a good thing that lonesome lifeguard stuck around after all!! 😉

~RL


Stillness

“To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”

~ Chuang Tzu

 and be sure to check out the sequel to this post here: Joyous Surrender (a sequel) 

 

 


Eavesdropping

“I wish I were like you,”
Said the forest
to the roaring river,
“Always traveling,
always sightseeing;

Rushing towards the pure domain
of the sea,
The kingdom of water;
Water,
The passionate, vigorous spirit
of life,
The liquid turquoise of light
With eternal flow …”

“But what am I?
Only a captive,
chained to the earth.
In silence I grow old,
In silence I wither and die,
And before long
nothing will remain of me
But a handful of ashes.”

“O forest, half-asleep, half-awake”,
Cried the river,
“I wish I were you,
Enjoying a seclusion
of living emerald,

And illuminated by moonlit nights;
Being a mirror
reflecting the beauties
of Spring;

A shaded rendezvous for lovers.”

“Your destiny, a new life
every year;
My life, running away from myself
all the time;
Running. running, running
in bewilderment;
And what is my gain
Of all this meaningless journey?
Ah … never having a moment of calm
and rest!”

“No one can ever know
what the other feels;
Who does care to ask
about a passer-by
If he really existed
or was only a shadow?”

Now a passer-by
Aimlessly walking in the shade
Comes to ask himself,
“Who am I? a river? a forest?
Or both?
River and forest?

~~~

Hope you enjoyed this wonderful story (and companion image of me listening to the
Forest and River converse 😉 ).
The piece is entitled Forest and River, written by
Jalal al-Din Rumi, with translation by Zhaleh Esfahani.

~~~
Much Love ~ Robyn Lee