'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.

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

Golden Wings Flew Into My Path

A walk in Vail Point Park still has a few butterflies swirling around.  This one was unusually large and I liked the way it tried to hang on to a small branch.  It looks so large on that slim branch but it held on.  The top image shows the sun rays reflecting the light against it's back. The wings are so delicate that the sun rays shined through the wings like stain glass and outlined the body of the butterfly down to the tip of it's tail.

Mother Turtle Took a Stroll

On a afternoon walk, I encountered another walker at the park, a very large turtle heading into the brush.  She definitely stopped traffic when she walked across the parking lot.

Morning Walk Moultrie Creek at Vail Point Park