Cicadas and other matters

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...

( Dr. Merrick )