P.P.P.P. no 4 Angels

P. P. P. P. no 4 ANGELS

P is for Performance
Robbie Williams Singing
Angels

I don’t think I need to remind any one, but just in case; This is my 4 in 1 blog,  P is for poem (as in Poetry Wednesday), P is for Photo (as in Foto Friday), P is for Performance (as in Song Saturday) and P is for Painting (as in Art Sunday). You should be able to click on all the images to enlarge. My topic for today is Angels, Angels to watch over us in the New Year, so here it is with my very, very best and heartfelt wishes to all of you for the New Year.

Below, from the Sistine chapel by Raphael

P IS FOR POEM

TITLE; The Four Angles
Author: Rudyard Kipling

As Adam lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree,
The Angel of the Earth came down, and offered Earth in fee.
But Adam did not need it,
Nor the plough he would not speed it,
Singing:--"Earth and Water, Air and Fire,
What more can mortal man desire?"
(The Apple Tree's in bud.)
As Adam lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree,
The Angel of the Waters offered all the Seas in fee.
But Adam would not take 'em,
Nor the ships he wouldn't make 'em,
Singing:--"Water, Earth and Air and Fire,
What more can mortal man desire?"
(The Apple Tree's in leaf.)
As Adam lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree,
The Angel of the Air he offered all the Air in fee.
But Adam did not crave it,
Nor the flight he wouldn't brave it,
Singing:--"Air and Water, Earth and Fire,
What more can mortal man desire?"
(The Apple Tree's in bloom.)
As Adam lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree,
The Angel of the Fire rose up and not a word said he.
But he wished a fire and made it,
And in Adam's heart he laid it,
Singing.--"Fire, fire, burning Fire,
Stand up and reach your heart's desire!"
(The Apple Blossom's set.)
As Adam was a-working outside of Eden-Wall,
He used the Earth, he used the Seas, he used the Air and all;
And out of black disaster
He arose to be the master
Of Earth and Water, Air and Fire,
But never reached his heart's desire!
(The Apple Tree's cut down!)

....Not exactly what you expect from an 'Angel Poem', but this is partly what attracted me to it.........I like the unexpected.

AND; to finish up the poetry, a couple of little ‘Angel Quotes’

The Angels were all singing out of tune,
And hoarse with having little else to do,
Excepting to wind up the sun and moon
Or curb a runaway young star or two.
—Lord Byron

The angels are so enamoured of the language that is spoken in heaven, that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there be any who understand it or not.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson


"The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone"
George Eliot
Below, Head of an Angel by Pietro da Cortona


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P IS FOR PHOTO

This is my own special Angel. She is more of a fairie really but I think of her as the Angel. She is special because she sat at the top of every Christmas tree when I was a child. We always had a real Christmas tree but it was usually quite small. She sat at the top of our Christmas tree when my children were very small babies. When my family grew a little older and we moved here we had enormous trees, they reached to the ceiling of our old house and shed thousands of tiny pine needles that I spent the whole of the following year trying to vacuum up. I decorated those trees with red ribbons and bows and little presents and still she sat at the top of the tree. When my marriage broke up she was the only thing I took from the enormous box of Christmas decorations. Every year since then she has sat at the top of my tree, usually helped into position by one of my grandchildren……………so here she is;

My Angel

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P is for Painting

Today I have chosen a couple of different Angel Paintings, no big write up, just paintings to look at.
J. M. W. Turner "The Angel Standing in the Sun" 1846
was painted in his 70's and it shows where the light of the sun dissolves the boundary of Heaven and earth and an angel appears causing a bridge between Heaven and earth.

Virgin with Angels, Regina Angelorum painted by William Bougereau in 1900, depicts the beautiful white-robed, white-winged angels that most of us expect. Bougereau’s angels have sweet faces and generally look like pretty young girls.

    The Angels Message
"Angel's Message" by
George Hillyard Swinstead 1860-1926

Angels Coronation, Botticelli

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delete reply dianahopeless wrote on Dec 31, '08 A subject near and dear to my heart. This post has a little something for everyone. lol I have a small angel that use to be used on my Christmas tree tops. My daughter now uses it as an ornament on her big formal tree. My granddaughter has her eye on it too. lol I love all the artwork (paintings) you have included here. You are so right, the poem was very unexpected!

delete reply djdx wrote on Dec 30, '08 I believe at one time, people argued about the gender of angels. I wonder how many if any of these images are from experience or if they are all conjecture.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Dec 30, '08 very nice post loretta and your tree angel looks like my older daughter Holly

delete reply aimlessjoys wrote on Dec 30, '08 Beautiful & fascinating. Angels are at the top of my shopping list for after-Christmas sales. However, they seem to be at the top of everybody else's list, too, as they seem to be few & far between. I admired Tilda Swinton as an angel in a movie I saw, can't remember the title, but she was very striking, having that angelic blended gender appearance, I thought, just glowing & beauteous. Enjoyed your PPPP! Have Fun!

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Dec 30, '08 Thanks for posting the artists' names for that last video. Some of them I recognised, but others I didn't. I love your tree angel too. We always had a star on top of our Christmas tree so that's what I have. I think everyone loves your P.P.P.P.'s!

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Dec 30, '08 very nice, ma'am. ; D

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Dec 30, '08 Wow You never cease to amaze me! Thank you for this lovely post Loretta... and I LOVE your tree angel :))) Many Blessings of Light to y

Poetry, poverty,

POVERTY

In keeping with ‘’Blog Action Day 2008’’ I am keeping to the theme of Poverty for todays poem.  Tomorrow I hope to be among millions of people all over the world who post a blog about poverty,

Please sign up here to do the same.

http://blogactionday.org/

The Iraqi poet Muhammad Mahdi Mahdi al-Jawahiri, who suffered exile and oppression, achieved fame in the 1930's and 1940's. His poems incited public criticism of political decadence and compromise. In "Lullaby for the Hungry," he describes the temporary relief that sleep offers the hungry, who are neglected by the political leadership.

Lullaby for the Hungry

Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!

The gods of food watch over you.

Sleep, if you are not satiated

By wakefulness, then sleep shall fill you.

Sleep, with thoughts of smooth-as butter-promises,

Mingled with words as sweet as honey.

Sleep, and enjoy the best of health.

What a fine thing is sleep for the wretched!

Sleep till the resurrection morning

Then it will be time enough to rise.

Sleep in the swamps

Surging with silty waters.

Sleep to the tune of mosquitoes humming

As if it were the crooning of doves.

Sleep to the echo of long speechifyings

By great and eminent power politicians.

Sleep, You hungry people sleep!

For sleep is one of the blessings of peace.

It is stupid for you to rise,

Sowing discord where harmony reigns.

Sleep, for the reform of corruption

Simply consists in your sleeping on.

Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!

Don’t cut off others’ livelihood.

Sleep, your skin cannot endure

The shower of sharp arrows when you wake.

Sleep, for the yards of jail houses

Are all teeming with violent death,

And you are the more in need of rest

After the harshness of oppression.

Sleep, and the leaders will find ease

From a sickness that has no cure.

Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!

For sleep is more likely to protect your rights

And it is sleep that is most conducive

To stability and discipline.

Sleep, I send my greetings to you;

I send you peace, as you sleep on.

Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!

The gods of food watch over you.

Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!

The gods of food watch over you

This is a page full of poverty related poetry. It’s just a little hard to find, follow the link to the Worldbank and then follow the links on the site in this order.

http://www.worldbank.org/

Home > Topics > Poverty > Poverty Analysis > Overview > A Collection of Poems and Personal Accou..

  

delete reply patricia50 wrote on Jul 15, '09 Good post. They always say look the other way. I cant. Hunger is now in America too.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 17, '08 skeezicks1957 said My heart goes out to the children and to their mothers. But as far as I am concerned the men can get their happy buts out to go find work and mail home the check. I have no sympathy for them. A lot of these children live in the streets on their own they have no mothers or fathers, there are communities all over the world where all the men have been taken or died in wars. You only need read some of the other posts to see that sometimes, where ever you live there is no work, not for men OR women. No one wants to live in poverty.

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

delete reply skeezicks1957 wrote on Oct 17, '08 My heart goes out to the children and to their mothers. But as far as I am concerned the men can get their happy buts out to go find work and mail home the check. I have no sympathy for them.

delete reply ppiccola wrote on Oct 16, '08 WOW this really touched me, I am about to have lunch and just wondered how many of us are lucky enough not to have to sleep to forget starvation! Thank you!

delete reply bostonsdandd wrote on Oct 16, '08 I LOVE this post! You found a poem which brings home the meaning of what it's kind to be broke and downridden. How easy it is for us to forget what it's like to be without someone to love us and take care of us! These people in the beautiful pictures remember what it's like to be loved, but for reasons they only know they can't survive in this world anymore. They take the "high road" and say life IS worth living, but they don't have the means to take care of themselves. My question is how many of them really have family who just doesn't care about them. It's so sad there is no humanity in the world today. The price of it is just too high. My heart goes out to people in this situations. And thank you for sharing this with us, for opening our eyes to the heartbreaking poverty which still exists around the world. http://bostonsdandd.multiply.com/journal/item/209/Poetry_WednesdayOctober_15AgapeBy_TLB

delete reply elizelizeliz wrote on Oct 16, '08, edited on Oct 16, '08 Is no chanje in historia mani tausend jahre, Is sad.

delete reply tylerh wrote on Oct 15, '08 how glum it is.. how we westerners 'enjoy' poverty.. poignant post

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Oct 15, '08 The poem is really something special, thank you. Several years ago, a friend returned from her assignment with the Peace Corps, on the Cabo Verde Islands. When I asked what it was like, she said "Much like here and everywhere; some rich, some poor, mostly poor. The poor are kept down by the class system, the powerful, the greedy, the political system and by keeping them in ignorance. Much like here and everywhere."

delete reply eccentricmare wrote on Oct 15, '08 Brilliant blend of participation, I'd not read that poem before and I so appreciate your sharing it!

delete reply sweetpotatoqueen wrote on Oct 15, '08 Powerful words accompanied by illustrations that should remind us all how important it is to support our local organizations who feed the hungry of our countries!

delete reply vickiecollins wrote on Oct 14, '08 Very good poem about poverty...I will privately message you a quesiton, hope you have time to answer. http://vickiecollins.multiply.com/journal/item/499/pictures_to_words_reflections.week_5_using_for_poetry_wednesday_as_well

delete reply dianahopeless wrote on Oct 14, '08 I know that feeling of hunger and finding release in sleep. I hope I never have to experience it again. This poetry and the photos are not pretty, but it should be 'out there', so something can be done about poverty. Thank you for sharing and pointing others in the right direction.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Oct 14, '08 How easy it is for us to not 'see' these people or acknowledge their existence!

delete reply lauritasita wrote on Oct 14, '08 Your poem is very moving, and thanks for passing along this message about making people more aware through the poetry and photography here. Any yes, in answering your question about Langston Hughes, I put a message in my post about him for you to give you more information about him. Thanks for participating and sharing this with us.

delete reply sugarpiehuny wrote on Oct 14, '08 The message is there, so sad but so true.. everyone needs to realize it can be you! Thank You

delete reply billatplay wrote on Oct 14, '08 I find it difficult to relate to poverty. Not because I have not experienced it but because I have. Extreme and hopeless, alone and desperate looking for a sack and finding it, once seemed like ecstasy. To me it was life and something I had to beat. I was 15 years old no mother or father and a war starting. No money either. Challenges yes, poverty no.

delete reply jadedruid wrote on Oct 14, '08 Poignant. You may have inspired me. I once took care of a homeless person. Took her food and water. She lived in a tent in the woods. She will killed by a hit and run driver.

delete reply luluone wrote on Oct 14, '08 The poem is pretty but it's not something nice perhaps the poor thinks "Sleep is my angel.." they don't even think of anything but sleep. I found many homeless people here- even in some parts of Jakarta, the capital city- some live under the bridges, or just wherever they find a place to sleep.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Oct 14, '08 TO BAD YOU ARN'T OVER HERE IN SF THERE ARE SO MANY HOMELESS ON THE STREET IT REALLY IS SAD