Cicadas and other matters

[linaewen]

I went for a walk in the cemetery on Saturday. It was lovely! A sweet time of thinking quiet thoughts, enjoying the smell of hot sun on green grass, feeling the cool breeze on my face, and listening to the sound of birds -- and cicadas.

I heard cicadas for the first time this season and that made me happy. I do love to hear them "singing" though I'm not sure why. It is just a nostalgic, peaceful sound for me.

I went looking for a poem about cicadas and found this, a translation of an ancient Greek poem. I've included the link to the site where I found it as an acknowlegement but also as a link to a fascinating and scholarly treatise on cicadas in ancient Greece.

We know that you are royally blest
Cicada when, among the tree-tops,
You sip some dew and sing your song;
For every single thing is yours
That you survey among the fields
And all the things the woods produce.
The farmers' constant company,
You damage nothing that is theirs;
Esteemed you are by every human
As the summer's sweet-voiced prophet.
The Muses love you, and Apollo too,
Who's gifted you with high pitched song.
Old age does nothing that can wear you,
Earth's sage and song-enamored son;
You suffer not, being flesh-and-blood-less--
A god-like creature, virtually.

Cicada in Ancient Greece

In other news, totally unrelated to cicadas, I am expecting 9 guests today who will spend four nights here, with an additional 4 who are staying elsewhere but eating with us several nights this week. Guess I'd better get cracking on some of the things I have to do to be ready for that!

But before I go, a taste of what we have to look forward to in the upcoming film The Island...




Nice!

Comments

[mochagoddess511.livejournal.com]

we've had quite a bit of cicada's down here this season. not being an insect lover, i'm not too happy about that, especially since i thought the plague was over. but, i do too enjoy their song. did you know that last year, when it was cicada season, their sound at night was more decibels than a rock concert?

[lin4gondor.livejournal.com]

I believe it! We had one latch on to our screen door once, and start its singing right into the house -- that was loud!!!! It gave me a chance to observe how they really work, though. They actually pump their bodies like a wee accordion and that's what makes the buzzing music. Their legs are bit creepy-looking -- typically insect-like -- but their wings are glorious, like fine lace.

[mochagoddess511.livejournal.com]

I was doing some sketches in the park a bit after cicada season was over, but then, out from one of the trees fell a cicada wing. I think I taped it into my sketchbook. It's amazing how delicate the wings are, especially for it to be such an ugly unattractive insect. Nature's funny like that... Do you think He was like 'well, if it's gonna have red eyes, i should at least give it pretty wings'? :-P