I hear dogs barking . . .

I hear dogs barking . . .
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

It looks like this week it is all about deer! Took this through my front window with my beloved 100-300mm lens which reaches even farther now that it is mounted on a digital camera. (Don't ask me to explain this to you; I've just accepted it!) Until the dog barked in the back yard, she was grazing. This is a much prettier pose (I love the ears!) but soon she bounded away.
Now it is late at night, the dishwasher is making that slow, rhythmic sloshing. Tonight, the Internet has been off for two hours, but I thought I'd give it one more try. Sleep tight, although you will probably be reading this in the morning.

yellowing bracken--
the deer lifts her ears
to listen

Nature cast in green, white and blue

Secret lagoon
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

Continuing with part 4 of

POETRY LESSONS by Gu Cheng

4.
Because of my deep needs, I often travel the far edges of society.

There in front of me are plants, clouds and the sea—nature cast in green, white and blue. The purity of these colors wipes away the dust of the everyday world, letting my mind recover its senses.

Is this something I am learning for the first time? No, it seems to be a recollection of an earlier time, as if before I was born I was one of them. I once was curved like the tusk
of a mammoth, once as innocent as a leaf, once as minute and happy as floating plankton, that free . . . .

I want to thank nature for letting me discover myself, discover the story of all things of the world, living and not. I want to thank it for giving me an endless supply of poems and songs.

This is why in the midst of the battle with reality, in the midst of the howl of the grinding machines, I can still say in a sweet quiet voice:

I’m yours.
----- Gu Cheng

I'll give you the last part tomorrow. Then I'll write about Gu Cheng a little and about this poem. Good nIght!