Great returns

Taking a look at the water feature, studded with graceful heliconia flowers, that adorns the passage between the East and West sections of the National Gallery in Washington DC, we observe the striking combination of nature and art at their intimate best. See what we're talking about, at blog.amynelsonhahn.info...

Subtlety

And in the very midst
of endless design you are surprised
by the delicate hand of nature --
oh, this too comes not without its art,
its subtleties a bit too subtle,
its gentleness too gentle to be real
somehow and yet it is water and flowers
all shivering in their elements
that make you breathe and ponder,
that make you step backwards,
arch your neck sideways as if
before a great Renaissance master
and crown the work a wonder.

(c) Amy Nelson McVeigh 2012

for photos please see 3894, 3890, 3892, 3891, 3893, and 3895 at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Green eyes

It's not easy being green...but looking back on a childhood of summers spent on an Audubon preserve is probably not so bad. Lovely ponds and gorgeous flowers peopled my world with frogs and lilypads -- a veritable kingdom of green; but is it altogether Victorian to expect that this world can continue to exist? More in words and images, at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Guardian mansions

When were you mine, guardian angel,
when were you going
to awaken me from your sleep?
It must've been dangerous and long,
but these are the ways we keep.
I see your silhouette always out afar
and now move over to collect you --
where have you been, good green
mystery -- where have your long
long lashes blown? Have they found
a way back home? You've been swum
completely up the stream and no
mansion leaves you yet behind to find
that unnecessarily you follow
on your own.

(c) Amy Nelson McVeigh 2012

for photos please see 3964, 3972, 3979, 3982, and 3984 at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Brave new worlds

Have you ever wondered what it is to love, to truly love, and never falter? Perhaps this is a strange new world, beyond what any of us can imagine -- without jealousy, without fear, without envy, where we could be really free to love completely with our whole hearts. Just picture the frail waterlilies as they pass from day into night, closing their little shades tight -- this is example enough of love's ways. Read and see more, at blog.amynelsonhahn.info, and be amazed!

Tidal knowledge

I have been mesmerized
by scenes of a pair, two as one,
united in what they've become.
The need is strong right now
to surprise you with a sense of worth
for what is yet unwritten,
for what depends far past our birth --
I feel accomplished in just one thing:
that when near you I'm the sum
of one and one plus all the rest
who came before, always at their best,
guiding us one more wayward step
to a place where we might breathe --
the wonder of your wave
breaking on my shore.

(c) Amy Nelson McVeigh 2012

for photos please see 3957, 3964, 3987, and 3977 at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Moondance

Have you ever seen a shadow moon? Not just the reflection of the moon on the water or on a field, but the secondary "shadow" image the moon casts in rainy weather?
New photos from Andrew, and a meditation on the "lives" of the moon, with help from Djuna Barnes...read it and see it at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Shadow moon

So inglorious
you fail to overpower
the deepest spectacle,
the fleeting glower of a lost
unchained disparity
between wind and grace.
Just left of the sky and far behind,
your brother couches near you
and dimples tidal eyes,
leaving no one greater wise
but far the richer
for his diamond trail.

(c) Amy Nelson McVeigh 2012

for photos please see 3873, 3871, 3876, and 3874 at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Flowery language

Consider the lilies and how they grow...that was the beginning of a hymn we used to sing when I was younger. But the verse from Matthew about the lilies of the field provides great inspiration for a reconsideration of Labor Day: many of the best things in life are free of toil and effort. We just have to know where to look for them. See more words and images, at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Gorgeous Lil

Fast upon a firefly,
barely dreaming, wasteful,
colored flush and scheming --
how does your garden grow?
The centers of lilies are like
the embers of volcanoes;
look into them and you are still,
mesmerized as if by ancient skill.
But wherein does their beauty lie?
The answer is, it lies and lies,
and it does despise the night
when all its colors are overthrown.

(c) Amy Nelson McVeigh 2012

for photos please see 3858, 3862, and 3867 at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Night and Day

What is the difference between a city in the daytime and a city at night? Often worlds and worlds, but you have to experience it -- and often photograph it -- to really know for sure. Our last post from the honeymoon au Quebec, and we show you some wonderful spots to adventure. Don't miss the words and images, at blog.amynelsonhahn.info...

Jour et nuit

As night turns into day,
I trail behind me
silken paths, snail-like --
I never want to leave --
where have I been before?
 where will I go here since?
 I wander into yet another
excruciating sight.
I fairly hate this town
for having made me fall
so fast in love with it,
and having quite so soon
to leave it all behind.
There are words for churlish girls
who play this game, but Canada --
I do not think I'll ever really leave you
quite behind; in day or night --
we are aligned.

(c) Amy Nelson McVeigh 2012

for photos please see 3733, 3734, 3736, 3718, 3716, 3722, 3725, 3728, 3719, and 3740 at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Dans les yeux

Les Mascarons de Bordeaux are important artifacts at the Hotel de Ville in Quebec, Canada. A gift from the famed city in France, they were to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Quebec. Carnivalesque, royal, ancient, and modern -- you can look at these figures in many ways. But we at the blogpost choose to look at them long and deeply, and to think of them as...friends. More words and images at, blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Eminence

Dating back to Medusa
and the shield of mighty Perseus,
your liminal eyes
cast a thousand longing spies
back through a window,
over a doorpost, into history
itself, and asked us:
what secrets are worth keeping?
and shall we lose our tongues
today, or keep on speaking?
Many faces, somewhat aghast,
at folly long since dead --
what, can we still make of you,
but pass along, and try hard
not to lose our heads.

(c) Amy Nelson McVeigh 2012

for photos please see 3784, 3786, 3788, 3791, 3793, and 3794 at blog.amynelsonhahn.info