Reflections of Trees

 

Not a single tree is perfect in these photos.  They all have grown crooked or have curved branches growing toward sunlight but yet they are each beautiful.  Their graceful limbs reaching out to the light are reflected in the water.   It is their imperfection that makes them so unique and picture perfect for me.

Dairy of a Sunset

 

It was a cloudy afternoon so I wanted to take photos of the sun setting over the marsh at Matanzas River.  Naturally, the clouds drifted away and became sparse as the sun was going down behind the trees in the distance.  There was a lot of birds in flight across the marsh and several sail boats had dock for the evening.  I like the scenery of the birds flying across the horizon against the sun.  There are sail boats at opposite ends of the sunset and the marsh reflected a reddish glow. 

Icicle Trees

 

 Early morning, the tree branches had beautiful shaped icicle branches when we drive over the Smoky Mountains.  Later in the day, the ice melted and icicles were falling everywhere.

Before Winter Grey

The lovely paintings of brilliant colors are now memories.  These pictures were taken in November before the leaves have fallen. The roads are now closed to many of the mountain trails and winter grey has painted a new picture.

Don't Walk Hallow Twisted Woods at Night

On the hiking trip in Guana Tolomato Matanzas Reserve, there are a lot of bare and twisted trees growing in the wetland.  I would not want to walk in these woods at night.  I was weary of snakes in the tall grass.

As Darkness Spreads Across the Mountains

 

I love it at the end of the day when darkness starts to spread across the mountains.  The silhouette of the trees and shadows falling across the mountains is a poet's inspiration.

'All Woods Must Fail'

 

 

All Woods Must Fail
by J.R.R. Tolkien

O! Wanderers in the shadowed land
Despair not! For though dark they stand,
All woods there be must end at last,
And see the open sun go past:
The setting sun, the rising sun,
The day's end, or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must fail.

Riverwalk Spirit of Trees

I like pictures with images from different angles and symmetries.  River Walk in Columbus, Georgia has many hardwood trees growing at the river base.  Some were planted but many are wild.  The trees add a spirit to the river that is inviting and alluring.

The Big Oak - A Southern "Oakenshield"

The Big Oak, located in Thomasville, Georgia is a 329 year old Live Oak, and is one of the largest of its kind East of the Mississippi River. Unlike Thorin's oak shield in "The Hobbit" it cannot be used as a shield but it has seen many years of history. The Big Oak dates back to circa 1680, which makes it one of the oldest Live Oaks in the country. I journey to this place just to see this tree.  I feel like I traveled to Middle Earth. Standing next to the Big Oak, I look like a dwarf!  One of my favorite poems by Tolkien.

ROADS GO EVER EVER ON
By J.R. R. Tolkien

Roads go ever ever on,  
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where sun has never shone,  
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,  
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,  
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on  
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone  
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen  
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green  
And trees and hills they long have known.

A Crooked Little Bird in a Crooked Tree

Hiking the nature trail at Faver Dykes, this bird kept his wings spread as if he was going to launch into flight.  The tall pine tree was lending and its branches had grown crooked in a very unusual way. It remind me of a Mother Goose poem. 

 

 "There was a crooked man,"

By Mother Goose

There was a crooked man,

and walked a crooked mile,

He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

 

"There was a crooked Bird"

By PL Fallin

 

There was a crooked bird,

Who flew a crooked mile,

He found a crooked branch against a crooked sky,

He caught a crooked fish, which caught a crooked bug,

And they all lived together in a tall crooked Pine.

 

Swamp Palm Tree

 

I really like how the Palm Tree curved its trunk to reach the sunrays from the swamp. How did the spanish explorers walk through this muddy, swampy ground to setup a colony?

Reflections of "Red River Valley"

 

 

 

Red River Valley

From this valley they say you are going.

We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile,

For they say you are taking the sunshine

That has brightened our pathway a while.

So come sit by my side if you love me.

Do not hasten to bid me adieu.

Just remember the Red River Valley,

And the one that has loved you so true.

Red River Valley is a folk song and cowboy music standard of controversial origins that has gone by different names—e.g., "Cowboy Love Song", "Bright Sherman Valley", "Bright Laurel Valley", "In the Bright Mohawk Valley", and "Bright Little Valley"—depending on where it has been sung.

'Little Girl Lost' by William Blake from Songs of Experience

The Little Girl Lost
By William Blake from 'Songs of Experience'

In futurity
I prophesy
That the earth from sleep
(Grave the sentence deep)
Shall arise, and seek
For her Maker meek;
And the desert wild
Become a garden mild.

In the southern clime,
Where the summer's prime
Never fades away,
Lovely Lyca lay.

Seven summers old
Lovely Lyca told.
She had wandered long,
Hearing wild birds' song.

'Sweet sleep, come to me,
Underneath this tree;
Do father, mother, weep?
Where can Lyca sleep?

'Lost in desert wild
Is your little child.
How can Lyca sleep
If her mother weep?

'If her heart does ache,
Then let Lyca wake;
If my mother sleep,
Lyca shall not weep.

'Frowning, frowning night,
O'er this desert bright
Let thy moon arise,
While I close my eyes.'

Sleeping Lyca lay,
While the beasts of prey,
Come from caverns deep,
Viewed the maid asleep.
Continue Reading: http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/blake/little_girl_lost.html

Sonnet: 'Lift Not The Painted Veil Which Those Who Live' by Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

Lift Not The Painted Veil Which Those Who Live
by Percy Bysshe Shelley 

Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,—behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it—he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.

Published by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824

'A Boundless Moment' by Robert Frost

 

A Boundless Moment

He halted in the wind, and -- what was that
Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost?
He stood there bringing March against his thought,
And yet too ready to believe the most.

"Oh, that's the Paradise-in-bloom," I said;
And truly it was fair enough for flowers
had we but in us to assume in march
Such white luxuriance of May for ours.

We stood a moment so in a strange world,
Myself as one his own pretense deceives;
And then I said the truth (and we moved on).
A young beech clinging to its last year's leaves

Robert Frost

Sun Kiss Orange Trees in Bad Axe

Sun Kiss Orange seems to be the predominate color for foliage in Bad Axe, Michigan.  Brilliant orange leaves surrounds the old Linton Memorial Chapel in the Pioneer Log Village.  The historical buildings were built between 1875 and 1900 and relocated to Bad Axe.

Cumberland Island's Ancient Ents of the Forest

Middle Earth is not the only place where you can find Ents.  The oldest living things that still live beneath the sun.  In The Hobbit, Ents are tree like creatures in the forest of Fangom.  These "Ents" live on Cumberland Island, Georgia.  Protectors of wild horses and the forest. Their branches spread out like twisted long arms and fingers across the sky and land. They cast wicked shadows in the moonlight.

Beauty in the Soul of a Haggard Tree

This image struck a chord with me about survival.  The harsh winter storms, snow, rain and winds have torn off this tree's top and branches.  All that is left standing is a torn and haggard trunk.  The roots are still intact receiving some nourishment and up the side is a beautiful rustic aura of reddish-gold bark. There is beauty in the soul of the remains of this tree and if you look closer, you will see she is as vibrant as the meadows that surround her.  It as if she is saying to hikers that past her by: " Even through hash winter snows, I'm still standing here in this wilderness, alone but surviving .  Respect me as you walk-by and may you have the perseverance, strenght, courage, and fortitude to endure hardships that come your way.  Remember me."