{"id":2082,"date":"2011-05-29T05:13:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-29T10:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/p4td.lightshedder.com\/2011\/05\/29\/5292011-rhodora\/"},"modified":"2011-05-29T05:13:08","modified_gmt":"2011-05-29T10:13:08","slug":"5292011-rhodora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=2082","title":{"rendered":"5\/29\/2011: Rhodora"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Happy Sunday!<\/p>\n

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Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1803\u20131882<\/p>\n

The Rhodora<\/b><\/p>\n

On Being Asked Whence Is the Flower<\/b><\/p>\n

IN May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
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I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
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Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
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To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
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The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
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Made the black water with their beauty gay;
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Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
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And court the flower that cheapens his array.
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Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
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This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, <\/p>\n

Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
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Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
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Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
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I never thought to ask, I never knew:
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But, in my simple ignorance, suppose <\/p>\n

The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I could not have said it better myself! \ud83d\ude42 And there is even a Sunday thought in there. I have been photographing Rhodora every spring for years and this is the first time I have come across this poem. <\/p>\n

The Rhodora, just a few scattered plants, was in bloom along the edge of a little marshy pond near my home in Kennebunk. If we ever get another sunny day (which is in some doubt in southern Maine this year) I want to go to Saco Heath, about 15 miles from here where it blooms in mass. <\/p>\n

For now, these few will do! As I am sure Ralph Waldo would agree. <\/p>\n

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Nikon Coolpix P500 1) 32mm (Close Up mode for macro), f5 @ 1\/1000th @ ISO 160, 2) 32mm (Close Up mode for Macro) f5 @ 1\/800th @ ISO 160. <\/p>\n

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.<\/p>\n

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