Power of a flame

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While meditating the other day, my thoughts drifted to the things that connect us. The Earth, the Moon, the stars, the seas, air and fire. I was inspired to take photographs of a candle so that I could study the colours in and around the flame.

Thinking about the candle reminded me of the following lines from the 1983 song, “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” performed by Barbra Streisand for the movie Yentl.

May the light of this flickering candle
Illuminate the night the way
Your spirit illuminates my soul

30 years have passed since, on a sunny day in Blackpool, UK I bought the Yentl soundtrack on cassette tape. I find it fascinating that the image of something as simple as a candle flame has the power to transport me back in time, connect me with others across the globe and provide a link to the humans who have utilised fire for light, heat and worship across the centuries.

Papa, Can You Hear Me? was composed by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.

Peace in art

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The theme of this month’s Bloggers for Peace post is art that demonstrates peace. Nothing sprang to mind so I decided I would create something. I have chosen an image of the Earth viewed from space to show peace at the macro level, without the Earth we would not exist.

Inspired by lines from the song The Windmills of your Mind, “and the world is like an apple whirling silently in space”, I chose an apple tree to represent peace at the micro level.

Without peace the eco system that the deciduous apple tree relies upon will be unbalanced. In addition to sunlight and warm temperatures the apple tree’s life cycle is dependent upon the four seasons and their varying climates.

During spring the apple tree sprouts new branches, foliage and blossom. Bees and insects are attracted by the flower’s nectar. They pollinate the flowers by transferring pollen to the stigmas of the blooms. Following pollination the apple tree’s production begins. Summer heralds the apple tree in full bloom followed by the development of the fruit. During this process, the tree also produces new growth for the next growing period.

Apples become fully ripe with complete colour in autumn. The fruit becomes too heavy for the branches and drops. Leaves change colour and fall and the tree sheds its old and weak branches and stems. The apple tree slumbers during the winter months.

From seed to the first fruit takes between 6 to 10 years, reflecting 6 to 10 years of peace. The benefits of peace are an annual harvest of apples and the growth of new trees to feed generations to come.

“Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel”. Peace is demonstrated by the living art of nature.

Windmills of your Mind

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While reading a post reblogged by bearspawprint entitled unique nature landscapes: moonlit kingdom by eyes of odysseus, I was reminded of the awesome picture above I had come across on Star Walk for iPad: Star trails in the southern hemisphere taken by Sebastian Voltmer.

By now the cogs of my mind were locking into place as I remembered the lyrics for Windmills of your Mind, a favourite of mine from my childhood:

Round
like a circle in a spiral
like a wheel within a wheel
never ending or beginning
on an ever spinning reel
like a snowball down a mountain
or a carnival balloon
like a carousel that’s turning
running rings around the moon

like a clock whose hands are sweeping
past the minutes of its face
and the world is like an apple
whirling silently in space
like the circles that you find
in the windmills of your mind!

like a tunnel that you follow
to a tunnel of its own
down a hollow to a cavern
where the sun has never shone,
like a door that keeps revolving
in a half forgotten dream,
or the ripples from a pebble
someone tosses in a stream

like a clock whose hands are sweeping …

keys that jingle in your pocket
words that jangle in your head
why did summer go so quickly?
was it something that you said?
lovers walk along a shore
and leave their footprints in the sand

is the sound of distant drumming
just the fingers of your hand?
pictures hanging in a hallway
and the fragment of this song
half remembered names and faces
but to whom do they belong?

he: when you knew
that it was over
you were suddenly aware
that the autumn leaves were turning
to the color
of her hair!

she: when you knew
that it was over
in the autumn of goodbyes
for a moment
you could not recall the color
of his eyes!

like a circle in a spiral
like a wheel within a wheel
never ending or beginning
on an ever spinning reel

as the images unwind
like the circles
that you find
in the windmills of your mind!

Songwriters: / Bergman, Alan / Bergman, Marilyn
The Windmills Of Your Mind lyrics © EMI Music Publishing