"Ode to Immortality"

"There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, the earth and every common sight to me did seem clothed in celestial light. The glory and the freshness of a dream is not now as it has been of yore. Turn wheresoe'er I may, by night or day, the things which I have seen I now can see no more. The rainbow comes and goes, and lovely is the rose. The moon does with delight look 'round her when the heavens are bare. Waters on a starry night are beautiful and fair. The sunshine is a glorious birth but yet I know where'er I go that there has passed away a glory from the earth.

The radiance which was once so bright be now for ever taken from my sight though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower. And O ye fountains, meadows, hills and groves forebode not any severing of our love. Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might.

The clouds that gather 'round the setting sun do take a sober coloring from an eye that has kept watch o'er man's mortality. Thanks to the human heart by which we live, thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears. To me the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."
~William Wordsworth (1770-1850)~

From the Cryptozoo Files

Early Penguin Discovered in New Zealand

Named the "Waimanu" from Māori for "waterbird". Fossil bones were found in a riverbed of New Zealand's Greensand Formation in 1980. Two species have been dated from the Late Paleocene Era. Waimanu was a genus of early penguin which lived soon after the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, lending support to the theory that the radiation of modern birds took place before the extinction of the dinosaurs. While it was a very early member of the Sphenisciformes genus, Waimanu was flightless like all modern penguins. Though its wing bones do not show the extreme specializations modern penguins have for an aquatic lifestyle it does seem adapted for wing-propelled diving, and may have resembled a flightless loon.

The Weight of a Stone

The chaotic flutters of a dying moth churn the dim light into a storm of winged dust beating its insect brain against a hot glowing lightbulb. Its ritual dance is a prologue to the nightly news as soldiers spill their blood in the desert sands and the networks editorial guts spew onto the floor. Soft shadows mingle as the lowering sun falls through the windows flickering on television images of Somali stick children eating flies and bleeding from open sores. Above it all the corporate guru's of Wall Street negotiate their way into eternal wealth defining the meaning of life in terms of nuclear tonnage and rampage the land with secret grunts and groans with no particular meaning.

God has yet to arrive in this quadrant of the universe. Galactically speaking the neighborhood is a vast, cold void. And the religious meek seek salvation through endless prayers and petitions; personal interviews with the Almighty have not yet been granted. Although a harmonic convergence for the Aquarian Nation is rumored about. To spend just one day in solitude with time for reflection and healing, the inner voice, the pilgrim within, is branded irresponsible. Consider the weight of a stone within the stone. Consider the weight of a soul within the soul. Do not carry this burden lightly. ~CWB~

Rare White Penguins Discovered

During the first week of January 2008, it was reported that scientists spotted a rare adult unpigmented Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) in Antarctica. White penguins are extremely rare. In 1997 after more than 30 years of studying penguins in Antarctica, Gerald Kooyman a scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography reported what is believed to be the first sighting of an all-white emperor penguin.

White Emporer Penguin

When Penguins Fly

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day The Earth Stood Still remains one of the most influential Science Fiction Movies ever made. Released in 1951, it's themes of Peace & Non-Violence among all People of the Universe are still true today. A fantastic ensemble cast included Michael Rennie as Klaatu; Patricia Neal; Sam Jaffe as the Professor; Billy Gray; and Francis Bavier. (Recognize any of those names?) And of course Gort played by himself.

It also spawned one of the most curious movie trivia riddles ever. What did Klaatu mean when these words were spoken to the robot? "GORT - KLAATU BARADA NIKTO!" If you can discover the meaning of this message email the translation to bluepenguin@email.com and you'll receive the ultimate movie trivia prize...a free box of Orville's Buttered Popcorn. Hint: Google/YouTube/IMDB.com!

From the Dharma Pada

"As the jasmine sheds its blossoms so will I shed anger and greed. At peace in body, speech and mind I will reject worldly things and be called "one who is at peace." I will exhort myself and guard myself with mindfulness and dwell in ease as a practitioner of the Buddhadharma.I will be the master of my self and I will be my own refuge. I will restrain myself as I would a fine horse. Abounding in joy, I will trust in the Buddhadharma and reach that peaceful place. The stilling of delusions - at ease. I will engage in the teachings of the Buddhadharma and brighten the world like the moon freed from a cloud." ~Lord Buddha~

Reflections on Solitude

"I left the house while they slept, to walk the noise out of myself as if the voices were in me and beyond me. I walk this earth remembering a world that died within me escaping the loneliness that follows. I am the living essence of genetic codes possessing lost ancient dreams, sleeping in the shade of ageless fern forest shadows. I am bound by promises that have left me buried in the space between time past and time future.

I see beyond my days of ravens feasting in the boneyards of forgotten memories and dead men crowding the streets. I am kin to river dolphins and feathered wrens. Breathing the same air, we survive. I have created a world of my own design where all creatures sing of sunsets and moons rising. I seek a road unchosen and weep for those who live in fear. I seek a life where my true nature awakens unfolding as the morning rose, releasing myself to the deeper aspects of solitude." ~CWB~

On A Distant Shore

“I left my body on a distant shore the better to explore beyond sea and sand a land of dreams and what might have been. Beyond the shining reef I soar and dream of other worlds once more veiled in silken shrouds of sleep. And when the dream is done on night’s cool breath I ride and rise to earthly cares forgetting the pale sad shades of night.” ~CWB~