Poetry Sunday: The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

It is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poems and one that is always associated with Halloween because of its spooky subject. It was also one of the first poems that I learned to love when I was growing up and so I'm "evermore" glad for a chance to feature it here.

The Raven

by Edgar Allan Poe 

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—

            Only this and nothing more.”

    Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

    Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

    From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

            Nameless here for evermore.

    And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

    So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating

    “’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—

Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—

            This it is and nothing more.”

    Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;

    But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

    And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—

            Darkness there and nothing more.

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;

    But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

    And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—

            Merely this and nothing more.

    Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.

    “Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;

      Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—

Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—

            ’Tis the wind and nothing more!”

    Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;

    Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;

    But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—

            Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,

“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,

Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;

    For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

    Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

            With such name as “Nevermore.”

    But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

    Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—

    Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”

            Then the bird said “Nevermore.”

    Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,

“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store

    Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster

    Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—

Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore

            Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”

    But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;

    Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking

    Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore

            Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

    This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;

    This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining

    On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,

But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,

            She shall press, ah, nevermore!

    Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer

Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.

    “Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee

    Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

    Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—

    On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—

Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—

    Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,

    It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—

“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!

    Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

    Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

    And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,

    And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

            Shall be lifted—nevermore!

This week in birds - #569

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

Dark-eyed Junco - a favorite winter visitor to my yard. They generally arrive here in late November/early December.

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The junco is one of the birds that might be appearing on my FeederWatch reports. Project FeederWatch begins on November 1. You can sign up here.

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So, the country gained a new Speaker of the House this week. A champion of fossil fuels and a doubter of human-caused climate change, he is not good news for anyone who cares about the environment.

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And in other sad news of and for the environment, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week declared twenty-one species extinct.

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Unfortunately, protecting the land and environment is not always popular in some of the places that most need protecting.

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Yellowstone National Park represents one of this country's early efforts to protect the environment and one of its best-known attractions is home to an amazing diversity of microbial life.

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Here's a heartening story of how a farmer decided to turn his farm into a wildlife sanctuary.

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We know that plants can communicate with each other but how do they warn other plants when danger is near?

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The West Antarctic ice sheet is irreversibly melting and creating a rise in sea level as it does so.

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Domestic cats could evolve into the alpha predators of the future. As one who lives with cats, I do not doubt it.

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And here's some alarming news: Bird flu has reached the Antarctic for the first time.

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Chickens are a lot smarter than many people give them credit for. As someone who grew up with a farmyard full of chickens, I knew that!

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Global warming impacts the nonhuman world even as it impacts us.

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A beloved ancient pear tree, felled to make way for a highway, has a new life.

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The Turkey Vulture is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It is omnipresent in Southeast Texas skies, most often in the company of its cousin the Black Vulture, as well as, occasionally, the Caracara.

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A volcanic eruption in January 2022 was so intense that it temporarily depleted Earth's ozone layer.

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Sheep lawnmowers - could this catch on with the public? I really like the idea!

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And then there is the javelina which has its own ideas about lawn care.

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It turns out that our country provides a safe hiding place for the dirty money of environmental criminals.

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A charismatic species, the Burrowing Owl, is in population decline as are many grassland birds.

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A California otter, called 841, that became famous for harassing Santa Cruz surfers has given birth. She was photographed with her new pup this week. 

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Our cousins, the chimpanzees, go through menopause just like humans.

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There are two yellowlegs species - the Greater Yellowlegs and the Lesser Yellowlegs. It's not always easy to tell which is which.

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This will be the planet's warmest year on record and the heat records continue to be shattered.

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A twelve million-year-old great ape fossil could reveal clues about our origins. Scientists have reconstructed the fossil's face.

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A rewilding project in the U.K. is helping to bring endangered species back from the brink. 

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Barn Swallows - amazing flyers!

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American Flamingos are also amazing flyers but even they can be blown off course by hurricane winds. That's what happened to a couple that ended up in Chincoteague, Virginia recently. 

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray: A review

This book has been highly acclaimed by just about everyone who has reviewed it and now it has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, so obviously it must have a lot that's good going for it. So why did it leave me dissatisfied? 

The Bee Sting is the story of the Barnes family, a family that is in trouble and struggling to maintain its station in life as the husband/father's car business hits the skids and he seems incapable of doing anything to save it. Instead, he spends his time out in the woods preparing for the actual end of the world while his wife, Imelda, sells off her jewelry on eBay.

Meanwhile, their teenage daughter, Cass, who has always been a top student in her class, has started drinking as a way of coping with the situation at home, and twelve-year-old PJ is obsessed with video game forums. On one of those forums, he has met someone named Ethan who is encouraging him to run away from home.

So, we have a family about to fly apart and the question is, "Can this family be saved?" And, perhaps, should it be?

Paul Murray is a very good writer and this is a well-written book, but I think it could have benefitted from a stricter editor. The Kindle version of the book, which is what I read, is 736 pages long! It could have been a hundred pages - maybe even 200 pages - shorter and still told the story and, in my opinion, it would have been a better book. 

I did enjoy the book even in its great length and I really have no criticism of it other than the fact that it is just too long. While reading it, I frequently had the urge to say to the writer, "Just get on with it!" That, I think, is not the reaction the writer was going for. 
 

Poetry Sunday: In Autumn by Bliss Carman

Where I presently live, autumn is not much different from summer. In fact, summer often lingers here into November or even December. But I haven't always lived here and I do remember autumns when I was growing up that were very like the ones that Bliss Carman describes in this poem. 

In Autumn

by Bliss Carman

Now come the rosy dogwoods,
The golden tulip-tree,
And the scarlet yellow maple,
To make a day for me.

The ash-trees on the ridges,
The alders in the swamp,
Put on their red and purple
To join the autumn pomp.

The woodbine hangs her crimson
Along the pasture wall,
And all the bannered sumacs
Have heard the frosty call.

Who then so dead to valor
As not to raise a cheer,
When all the woods are marching
In triumph of the year?

This week in birds - #568

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment: 

A Great Blue Heron stands atop a nesting box intended for the use of Wood Ducks at Brazos Bend State Park in Southeast Texas.

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In the waters of that park, a Common Gallinule takes a swim.

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And here comes El Niño once again. It is expected to bring a warmer-than-usual winter to parts of the country, and around where I live here in Southeast Texas it is likely to be a wet winter. 

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In the Amazon rainforest, they could definitely use some of El Niño's rainfall. The area is experiencing a severe and prolonged drought.

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High-rise buildings are notorious bird killers and some areas are looking for ways to fix that problem.

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Fallen leaves are a treasure of Nature; let them lie!

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Hurricanes in the Atlantic are getting stronger and faster. Meanwhile, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico have been nonexistent for quite a while, at least as far as our coast is concerned.

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Warmer oceans are being blamed for the deaths of billions of snow crabs in Alaska.

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A red-eared turtle goes for a swim in waters along the Gulf Coast. It is easy to see how he got his name.

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White-tailed deer are common animals in many parts of the country but what do we really know of their lives? Not as much as we might imagine.

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A bird of the tundra is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It is the pretty little Red-necked Phalarope.

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Want to see something incredibly cute? Check out the baby animal cam.

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The debate continues: Is the Ivory-billed Woodpecker extinct or isn't it? Based on some photographic and video evidence, the U.S. government is not ready to say that it is. 

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Amphibians of the Andes like this little Im Thurn's rain frog are facing unique perils as the climate warms up.

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Project Feederwatch begins on November 1 and there are even more options for reporting wildlife sightings this year.

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Who knew? Mammals glow!  

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Frank the Tank is a tortoise that was abandoned by his owner when he apparently got too big for them to handle. So now, Frank needs a new home. One with plenty of room.

Poetry Sunday: September Tomatoes by Karina Borowicz

For the first time in my memory, we didn't plant a vegetable garden this year so we didn't have any September tomatoes. Or October tomatoes. I miss them. I miss their special sweetness. I even miss the fruit flies and the "whisky stink of rot." Next year...

September Tomatoes

by Karina Borowicz

The whiskey stink of rot has settled

in the garden, and a burst of fruit flies rises

when I touch the dying tomato plants.

Still, the claws of tiny yellow blossoms

flail in the air as I pull the vines up by the roots

and toss them in the compost.

It feels cruel. Something in me isn’t ready

to let go of summer so easily. To destroy

what I’ve carefully cultivated all these months.

Those pale flowers might still have time to fruit.

My great-grandmother sang with the girls of her village

as they pulled the flax. Songs so old

and so tied to the season that the very sound

seemed to turn the weather.

This week in birds - #567

 A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continued passing through my yard this week on their migration south. Until the last couple of days, I had only seen females and immatures, but on Friday afternoon there was an adult male at one of the feeders.

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It's that time of year again; it's Fat Bear Week! The winner of the competition this year was a female grizzly named Grazer.

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And speaking of grizzlies, you might not think the big bears would be interested in moths as food but apparently they find them to be quite tasty.

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And continuing with news of bears, black bears have become much more widespread in recent years until it is not altogether uncommon to see them in backyards.

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Northern Spotted Owls are an endangered species and in order to protect them biologists are sometimes faced with the choice of having to kill Barred Owls, a much more aggressive and successful species.

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Birds in migration face many hazards but one of the most intractable in high-rise buildings in cities. One such building in Chicago recently killed 1,000 birds in one day. 

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A new LNG plant being built off Canada's west coast poses a dire hazard for whales in the area.

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The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is the flamboyantly beautiful American Flamingo.

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Deforestation in Bolivia has increased by an alarming 32% in only one year.

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In other tree news, there is an ancient cedar in British Columbia that stands 151 feet tall and is about 17 feet in diameter.

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Whales can be playful creatures and one of their "toys" is kelp. They enjoy rolling in it, rubbing against it, and just generally tossing it about and playing with it. 

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Here's a diary featuring the insects of a park in Mississippi.

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Native Americans in Nevada are fighting plans for a lithium mine on one of their sacred sites.

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This is the Sora, a secretive resident of coastal areas.

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Scientists say the largest solar storm ever to hit Earth likely occurred about 14,300 years ago. 

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A bipartisan coastal protection bill is making its way through Congress.

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In September, the Biden administration announced plans to strengthen protections for America's fragile Arctic region. 

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Across much of the planet, thin, wildly interconnected filamentous structures called mycelium are holding the earth together. The humble fungi are the stuff that makes all this possible.

Middle East conflict explained

I stole this from Daily Kos. It explains the Middle East conflict as well as anything I have seen.

 

 

Poetry Sunday: My Cats by Charles Bukowski

Anyone who loves and lives with cats will certainly recognize the truth in Charles Bukowski's poem. Yes, "they are limited," but then so are we. Perhaps together we make a whole.

My Cats

by Charles Bukowski

I know. I know.
they are limited, have different
needs and
concerns.

but I watch and learn from them.
I like the little they know,
which is so
much.

they complain but never
worry,
they walk with a surprising dignity.
they sleep with a direct simplicity that
humans just can't
understand.

their eyes are more
beautiful than our eyes.
and they can sleep 20 hours
a day
without
hesitation or
remorse.

when I am feeling
low
all I have to do is
watch my cats
and my
courage
returns.

I study these
creatures.

they are my
teachers.

This week in birds - #566

 A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

A flotilla of Canada Geese enjoying an early autumn swim.

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Some places on this continent have already experienced their first freeze of the season but not us! We're still in the mid-80s to 90s here in Southeast Texas and don't expect our first freeze until about December.

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Speaking of freezing, Antarctica has just recorded its sixth-lowest record of sea ice. And the annual peak was the lowest ever recorded. 

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Looking into the future - way into the future - scientists say Earth could become uninhabitable in 250 million years after the formation of a supercontinent.

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In our own time, a heat dome has roasted much of the continent this summer leaving a wide swath of it feeling almost uninhabitable.

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Climate change presents challenges to many species and some, including many amphibians, may not be able to adapt.

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The angel shark is one of the world's most elusive sharks but trails of its DNA are helping scientists to find it.

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Here is the week in wildlife pictures from The Guardian.

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Canada's wild horses are beloved by the public but they are having a devastating impact on biodiversity.

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The Bolson tortoise is North America's largest and rarest tortoise species. The length of its lifespan is unknown so protecting and preserving it is a long-term affair. 

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This is the Long-billed Curlew and its movements can tell scientists quite a lot about the health of the prairie.

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Chinese water deer may be losing ground in their native China but they've found a home in Britain.

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Good news for cows and for the environment: A Swedish report says that feeding the animals seaweed could cut methane emissions. 

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These ancient footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico are evidence that humans walked on this continent at least 21,000 to 23,000 years ago.

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We have two "Birds of the Week" since I last posted TWIB:

This is the Palila, or Finch-billed Honeycreeper, a critically endangered Hawaiian species that was the bird of the week last week.

And here is the BOTW for this week - the Marbled Murrelet.

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Mesolithic-era items found in a cave in Spain show that our hunter-gatherer ancestors were making baskets much earlier than had previously been believed.

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There is reason to fear that a huge escape of thousands of farmed salmon in Iceland could devastate local wild salmon populations.

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Here are a few autumn photos from Lake Erie Metropark in southeast Michigan.

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Is El Niño gathering its forces to zap us this winter?

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Paleontologists in Egypt have found an eight-foot-long whale that lived in Earth's waters 41 million years ago.

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Some American Flamingos that stopped off at Lake Michigan on their migration south for the winter gave local Wisconsonite birders a thrill.

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Archaeologists who explore glaciers recently found an intact 3,000-year-old arrow in Norway. 

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A NASA spacecraft has recently returned home with a cosmic gift - a piece of the asteroid Bennu.

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A fossil-rich desert in Peru is being threatened by human settlement.

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Sites in Ohio do not get the same attention as the Egyptian pyramids but they could be just as vital to human history.

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Every tree is amazing in my view but here are eight that are deemed the "world's most amazing."

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Climate change may be affecting the female-to-male balance in some populations of turtles.

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Rice's whale, a species of whale discovered in the Gulf of Mexico only two years ago, is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world.

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This little beauty is the Fiery-throated Hummingbird, a resident of high elevations in Costa Rica and western Panama.

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Amidst all the doom and gloom surrounding news of climate change, there may actually be a ray of hope.

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A reminder for residents of Texas to do their part to protect the migrants now streaming through our state. The lights can disorient birds and cause them to go astray and sometimes fly into high-rise buildings.

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And, finally, just because it's my favorite sign of the week -