Controversial Topics: Green Leaves of Summer and Fall: With The Brothers

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Green Leaves of Summer and Fall: With The Brothers

THE TREES are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon these brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold,
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?….WB Yeats

GREEN LEAVES OF SUMMER & FALL: WITH THE BROTHERS

"Good weather all the week, but come the weekend the weather stinks.
Springtime for birth, Summertime for growth; and all Seasons for dying.
Ripening grapes in the summer sun - reason enough to plod ahead.
Springtime flows in our veins.
Beauty is the Mistress, the gardener Her salve.
A soul is colored Spring green.
Complexity is closer to the truth.
When the Divine knocks, don't send a prophet to the door.
All metaphors aside - only living beings rise up in the Springtime; dead beings stay quite lie down dead.
Winter does not turn into Summer; ash does not turn into firewood - on the chopping block of time.
Fresh fruit from the tree - sweet summertime!
Gardens are demanding pets.
Shade was the first shelter.
One spring and one summer to know life's hope; one autumn and one winter to know life's fate.
Somehow, someway, everything gets eaten up, someday.
Relax and be still around the bees.
Paradise and shade are close relatives on a summer day.
Absolutes squirm beneath realities.
The spiders, grasshoppers, mantis, and moth larva are all back: the summer crowd has returned!
To garden is to open your heart to the sky.
Dirty fingernails and a calloused palm precede a Green Thumb."
- Michael P. Garofalo

"Leaves drift softly earthward toward the grass
Spring and summer blend from green to gold
And so the seasons come full turn and pass
Day follows day and each of us grows old.

Somewhere there is a bright new shining day
And as these seasons pace and turn
We will live in joy complete and never say
That for younger days our hearts still yearn."
- Corby Magnuson,

"Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells."
- John Keats

"Between the dusk of a summer night
And the dawn of a summer day,
We caught at a mood as it passed in flight,
And we bade it stoop and stay.
And what with the dawn of night began
With the dusk of day was done;
For that is the way of woman and man,
When a hazard has made them one.
Arc upon arc, from shade to shine,
The World went thundering free;
And what was his errand but hers and mine --
The lords of him, I and she?
O, it's die we must, but it's live we can,
And the marvel of earth and sun
Is all for the joy of woman and man
And the longing that makes them one."
- William Ernest Henley,

"The season for enjoying the fullness of life -- partaking of the harvest,
sharing the harvest with others, and reinvesting and saving portions
of the harvest for yet another season of growth."

The sun was about to set and the light was going to be just wonderful. but just as it lights up the sky on its way down, it also lights up the rest of the land. Hurling its final rays across the landscape, where a lone farmer is planting rice in an open field,

A Russian boy cools himself off by standing in a fountain near the Kremlin in central Moscow on June 11, 2009 as summer temperatures began to make their way past 30 degrees celcius (86 farenheit). (YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images) #

People practice yoga on a rocky crest filled with astronomical markers at the megalithic observatory of Kokino, Macedonia, soon after sunrise, early on June 21, 2009 -- the day of the summer solstice. The ancient astronomic observatory, about 80 kms northeast of Skopje, is more than 4,000 years old. Kokino includes special stone markers used to track the movement of Sun and Moon on the eastern horizon. (ROBERT ATANASOVSKI/AFP/Getty Images) #

The sun sets above the teepee field as music fans start to arrive at the Glastonbury Festival site at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 24, 2009 in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The gates opened for the first of the 140,000 music fans arriving, at what has become one of Europe's largest music festivals. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) #

5 An Indian motor cyclist travels alongside a yellow taxi cab during a spell of monsoon rain in Kolkata on June 30, 2009. Heavy rains which fell in several areas of northern and eastern India brought respite to the scorching heat in previous days. (DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP/Getty Images) #

BALD heads forgetful of their sins,
Old, learned, respectable bald heads
Edit and annotate the lines
That young men, tossing on their beds,
Rhymed out in love’s despair
To flatter beauty’s ignorant ear.

Lightnings illuminate the night sky of Montevideo as a thunderstorm unfolds over the Uruguayan capital on July 5, 2009. (MARIANA SUAREZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

All shuffle there; all cough in ink;
All wear the carpet with their shoes;
All think what other people think;
All know the man their neighbour knows.
Lord, what would they say
Did their Catullus walk that way?

7 A screen shows a presentation to an audience of hundreds sitting in the grass of Brooklyn Bridge Park across from the Manhattan skyline during the "Movies With a View" outdoor screening series July 9, 2009 in New York City. Outdoor movies are a perennial summer pastime for New Yorkers, with festivals and showings put on in various neighborhoods of the city throughout the warm months. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #

Youths cool off in the swimming pool near the village of Milosevo, Kosovo, Serbia, on July 25, 2009 as the temperatures reached over 40 degrees celsius. (Armend Nimani/AFP/Getty Images) #

A row of wicker beach chairs remain empty at the beach near the nortern German town of Kuehlungsborn as dark clouds gather in the sky on July 25, 2009. A mix of sunshine and thunder storms with heavy rain fall make up the recent weather in Germany. (OLIVER LANG/AFP/Getty Images) #

A teenager attempts to use his skateboard to keep dry during an afternoon thunderstorm on July 27, 2009 in New York, New York. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #

A man walks along a street after a heavy storm in Shanghai on July 30, 2009. Torrential rain and landslides have killed at least 66 people and left another 66 missing in south and central China since the beginning of June, state media reported on July 30. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

A man tries to open a beach umbrella on July, 30 2009 on a deserted beach in Deauville, northern France. (MYCHELE DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images) #

Under a slate grey sky a fishing boat sits in the sand of Morcambe Bay on July 31, 2009 in Morecambe, England. Many seaside traders are seeing a slow start across Britain due to the inclement weather. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) #

People look out to see and the gathering rain clouds as they walk on the beach on August 4 2009 in Weston-Super-Mare, England. Many popular UK tourist attractions are hoping that the wet summer weather will improve to take advantage of the large number of people who have chosen to take their holidays or 'staycations' at home this year. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) #

The sun rises over the town of Vineyard Haven August 8, 2009 in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) #

A young boy climbs up from the water after trying to catch baitfish August 7, 2009 in Menemsha, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) #

A hula dancer sits on the dashboard of an automobile as crowds line up to order seafood at The Bite, a popular destination, August 7, 2009 in Menemsha, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) #

A young girls fishes as the sun sets August 7, 2009 in Menemsha, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) #

A lawn in Ludwigsburg, Germany, is littered with balls of hail shortly after a thunderstorm on Thursday, May 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle) #

A man relaxes in a hammock at the sea bridge of Kellenhusen at the Baltic Sea, northern Germany, as temperatures reach 19 degrees Celsius (66.2 Fahrenheit) on Monday, May 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Heribert Proepper) #

Pre-monsoon clouds hover above, as girls carry water in Ahmadabad, India, Tuesday, June 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) #

Christian Jones of Seattle relaxes in the sun at Gas Works Park during a second day of record temperatures Thursday, June, 4, 2009 in Seattle. Jones, said he wishes every day can be like this in the city that has a reputation for rain and clouds. The official temperature in Seattle reached 89 degrees, one degree higher than the previous June 4 record set in 1989. (AP Photo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Joshua Trujillo) #

Children play football as clouds hover above them in Bhubaneswar, India, Tuesday, June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout) #

A young man jumps into the waters of Lake Chiemsee near Chieming, southern Germany, in front of an Alps panorama during sunny weather with temperatures of 25 degrees Cesius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, June 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Christof Stache) #

A red sky at dawn is a signal to mariners that the weather changing for the worse, prompting lobsterman Bruce Steeves of Raymond, Maine, to get an early start as he loads traps onto his boat, Thursday, June 18, 2009, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) #

A small boat is seen amidst rain and fog as hurricane Andres arrives in the Pacific resort city of Manzanillo, Mexico on Tuesday June 23, 2009. Andres strengthened into the Pacific season's first hurricane as it flooded homes, toppled trees and killed at least one person on its way up Mexico's southwestern coast. (AP Photo/Miguel Tovar) #

A large waterspout forms above the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Fla. on Friday afternoon, June 26, 2009. The spout dissipated as it reached the other side of the river. The Fuller Warren Bridge is seen in the foreground. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Will Dickey) #

In this picture taken Saturday, June 27, 2009, storm clouds gather and lightning strikes over the Houses of Parliament in London during a break in the hot weather. (AP PhotoPhoto/Lewis Whyld/PA) #

Jeanette Eggleston dries off seats as the start of a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins is delayed due to bad weather at Land Shark Stadium in Miami Monday, June 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) #

Pre-monsoon clouds hover above the city in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 30, 2009. The monsoons arrived in several states of northern India, providing relief from the heat wave that had swept the region, according to news reports. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) #

35 Lightning is seen over San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, May 24, 2009 as thunderstorms hit several parts of Spain. (AP Photo/EFE, Javier Etxezarreta) #

Uzbek children lie in a puddle in the Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent, Monday, Aug. 10, 2009, as the temperature surpassed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). In July and early August, residents of this Central Asian nation suffer through what they call "chillya," a 40-day period of heat. (AP Photos/Umida Akhmedova) #

Daranak Falls. Remembering fondly, cherishing memories of early summer vacations spent at this place. This 14-meter high falls is truly a refreshing site. A short walk over the top of Daranak are smaller, cascading streams known as Batlag Falls. It is located at Bgy. Tandang Kutyo in the town of Tanay.

Joggers run under a fountain in Lisbon, Portugal Wednesday, July 15 2009. Temperatures in Lisbon on Wednesday reached 27C, 80F. (AP Photo/Armando Franca) #

Destination San Francisco. "If you're going to San Francisco,be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...If you're going to San Francisco,Summertime will be a love-in there"

A woman plays a guitar in Mauerpark in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, July 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Maya Hitij) #

People cool off in The Wall of Water at the State Capitol State Park in front of the Capitol building in Salem, Ore. where temperatures reached 104F (40C) Tuesday July 28, 2009. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Ross William Hamilton) #

A woman crosses a flooded street during a thunderstorm in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) #

Children play in water spraying from a fire hydrant in Philadelphia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2009. The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Warning for much of eastern Pennsylvania today. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) #

Trekkers on Pulag's summit, bathed by the golden light of sunrise, and surrounded by the awesome brown carpet of bamboo grass that is the unmistakable signature of this mountain top.

Billions of stars surround our tiny blue planet as it spins around it's own axis every 24 hours. Yet from our humble vantage point, it's hard to believe anything is in motion... until you see a photograph just like this week's postcard.
We were camped near the summit of Mt. Pulag in Benguet. High above, I saw more stars than I've ever seen in my whole life. I set out to photograph the night sky full of stars, in a way to illustrate the motion I described earlier. The result? In today's postcard, the dark silhouette of a mountain is Mt. Pulag, the 3rd highest peak in the Philippines. The reddish glow on the horizon is light pollution from the city of Baguio about 4 hours south. And each streak of light is the path of a single star moving across the night sky... all frozen in time. Now, do you believe we are in motion?

It's pitch-black and I'm standing on the shores of Valugan in Batanes. With my trusty torch in hand... I made my way towards the distant sound of crashing waves... towards the eerie sound of boulders rubbing against each other... as wave after wave pounded the craggy shore.

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the day of the year when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. People around the world are welcoming the start of the new season by enjoying (or avoiding) the hot weather. In southern England, where yesterday brought heavy rains, pagans gathered at Stonehenge and reveled in spite of the downpour. Collected here are a handful of images of the beginning of Summer, 2012.

A Bengal tiger, sprayed with water by a zookeeper on a hot summer day at the Birsa Munda Zoological Park in Ranchi, India, on May 30, 2012. Zoo authorities are helping the animals cope with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius (104F) by providing coolers, special roofs and regular hose-downs. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

A Bengal tiger, sprayed with water by a zookeeper on a hot summer day at the Birsa Munda Zoological Park in Ranchi, India, on May 30, 2012. Zoo authorities are helping the animals cope with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius (104F) by providing coolers, special roofs and regular hose-downs. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

2
Gleu Sunpooja stands in front of Stonehenge as solstice revelers celebrate the arrival of the midsummer sunrise at the megalithic monument near Salisbury, England, on June 21, 2012. Cloudy skies and a Met Office weather warning for heavy rain meant the numbers of revelers who annually gather at the 5,000 year old stone circle to see the sunrise on the Summer Solstice was down on previous years. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images) #

3
A couple celebrates summer solstice at a stone carved solstice marker at the Kokino megalithic observatory, on June 20, 2012. The 3,800-year-old observatory was discovered in 2001 in the northwestern town of Kumanovo, 70 km (43 miles) north of Skopje, and is ranked the fourth oldest observatory in the world, according to NASA. (Reuters/Ognen Teofilovski) #

4
Four-year-old Solaris Arias (right) jumps through water spraying from an open fire hydrant in Providence, Rhode Island, on June 20, 2012. Much of the state remained under a heat advisory Tuesday afternoon because of the steamy air mass that has moved into the region resulting in temperatures in the 90s. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) #

5
A boy slips down a waterslide in the German city of Hameln on May 22, 2012 as temperatures rose to up to 30 degrees Celsius (86F). (Julian Stratenschulte/AFP/Getty Images) #

6
Thousands of yoga enthusiasts convene in New York's Times Square to mark the summer solstice, on June 20, 2012. Temperatures climbed to near 100 degrees (37C). (AP Photos/Mark Lennihan) #

7
Cows stand in a sunny pasture on Litzlalm mountain near Weissbach in the Austrian province of Salzburg, on June 20, 2012. The weather forecast predicted temperatures up to 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson) #

8
Forks of lightning during a thunderstorm on June 20, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland. (Alex Grimm/Getty Images) #

9
William Murray, a Boston University manager in Facilities Management and Planning and beekeeper, removes a chair covered in a swarm of bees at Boston University Commencement 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 20, 2012. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi) #

10
The biggest bore tide of the summer roared into Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage, Alaska, on June 5, 2012. Here a kayaker awaits the bore tide to ride it. Bore tides can happen all over the world, but Anchorage's Turnagain Arm and Knik Arms are the only places in the United States where they occur regularly, according to Michael Lawson a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Anchorage. (AP Photo/Ron Barta) #

11
Dewdrops run down a blade of grass on June 18, 2012 near Trauchgau, Germany. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images) #

12
Youths jump in the Danube river on June 19, 2012 during a hot sunny day in Vienna. (Alexander Klein/AFP/Getty Images) #

13
An Indian mahout bathes his elephant on a hot summer day in Allahabad, India, on June 18, 2012. Northern India has been sweltering under extreme heat as maximum temperatures hovered around 45 degrees Celsius (113F) in some areas. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) #

14
Residents block cars and set up a pool on the street on June 20, 2012, in Philadelphia. Temperatures climbed toward the high 90s along the Eastern Seaboard as an unusually early hot spell heralded the official start of summer. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) #

15
Wyatt Taylor and Marci Hohner lay in the sun as young geese surround them on June 20, 2012, in Portland, Oregon. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) #

16
Long-tailed mayflies (Palingenia longicauda) fly over the surface of the Tisza river near Tiszainoka, 135km (84 miles) southeast of Budapest, on June 20, 2012. Millions of these short-lived mayflies engage in a frantic rush to mate and reproduce before they perish in just a few hours during "Tiszaviragzas" or Tisza blooming season from late spring to early summer every year. (Reuters/Laszlo Balogh) #

17
Long-tailed mayflies (Palingenia longicauda) mate on the surface of the Tisza river near Tiszainoka, Hungary, on June 20, 2012. (Reuters/Laszlo Balogh) #

18
Fire rages through the forest in the High Park fire west of Fort Collins, Colorado, on June 19, 2012. Eight more homes were lost in the Colorado wildfire that is the state's most destructive on record and which continued to rage dangerously close to a residential subdivision as winds stoked the flames, fire officials said on Monday. (Reuters/Rick Wilking) #

19
Pakistanis swim in a canal to cool off as temperatures reached 44 degrees Celsius (111F), in Lahore, Pakistan, on June 17, 2012. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary) #

20
A boy stands with his scoop and his bucket on a bank in Norden-Norddeich, Ostfriesland, Germany, on June 8, 2012. (Julian Stratenschulte/AFP/Getty Images) #

21
Guests enjoy drinks while floating along the waters of the Boatel in New York, on June 1, 2012. The Boatel, an artist-run hotel built out of more than a dozen discarded boats at Marina 59 in Far Rockaway, offers a sanctuary from nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport and the buzz of New York City. (Reuters/Allison Joyce) #

22
A movie is projected on a screen for guests staying on boats at the Boatel in New York, on June 1, 2012. Since opening last year, the hotel has been booked most weekends in the summer. A one-night stay costs $55 to $100, and profits go to support a small but thriving art community. (Reuters/Allison Joyce) #

23
A participant of the the "Dirndlspringen" contest jumps into a swimming pool in Vienna, on June 16, 2012. At Dirndlspringen, a jury votes on the best performance of people jumping into a swimming pool in traditional Austrian Dirndl dresses. (Reuters/Herwig Prammer) #

24
Ukrainian soccer fans react after their Group D Euro 2012 soccer match against France was suspended because of heavy rain at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, on June 15, 2012. (Reuters/Felix Ordonez) #

25
A Bengal Tiger named Akasha dives into the water after a piece of meat at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on June 20, 2012 in Vallejo, California. On the first day of summer, temperatures in the San Francisco Bay Area ranged from the mid seventies by the coast to mid nineties inland. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) #

26
People attend the Summer Night Concert (Sommernachtskonzert) of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Vienna, on June 7, 2012. The popular open-air concert with free admission is visited by around 100,000 people and takes place in the setting of Schoenbrunn palace and its baroque gardens. (Reuters/Lisi Niesner) #

27
A newlywed couple from Poland prepare to kiss during the Sommernachtskonzert in Vienna, on June 7, 2012. (Reuters/Lisi Niesner) #

28
A man carries a child across a manmade beach at a park during summer in Beijing, on June 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

29
An Indian youth swims in the Dhansari river as she cools off during a hot summer day in Dimapur, India's northeastern state of Nagaland, on May 19, 2012. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

30
Third-grader Elsie Andre peers into her net to see if she captured a dragonfly as part of Ecology Day Camp at the University of Mississippi Biological Field Station in Abbeville, Mississippi, on June 13, 2012. The camp, which is held each summer, features a curriculum focused on the importance of the natural world through various outdoor activities. (AP Photo/University of Mississippi, Nathan Latil) #

31
A man jumps into a lake, located on the Tatyshev Island in the middle of the Yenisei River, with the air temperature at about 30 degrees Celsius (86F) in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on June 14, 2012. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin)
The sixty sixth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon these brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

5
FALL23 --Double X of fall colors... RJ Sangosti/ The Denver Post #
THE TREES are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

FALL23 --Double X of fall colors... RJ Sangosti/ The Denver Post #
But now they drift on the still water
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?….WB Yeats

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori:
mors et fugacem persequitur virum
nec parcit inbellis iuventae
poplitibus timidove tergo.

"How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country:
Death pursues the man who flees,
spares not the hamstrings or cowardly backs
Of battle-shy youths."

The world is an imperfect place, and the past year has shown us it can be a pretty scary one as well. But no matter the tribulations there is always room for hope. All twilight photographers know the darkest part of the night is shortly before the sun comes out. Such too is life. In the small mountain town of Mayoyao about 40 kms from the Banaue Rice Terraces, the sunrise that morning had ended with a whimper and a sigh. Dark storm clouds spoiled the dawn,Hope because it's not over until it's over. Such too is life. .