arnie, my late writing mentor, once told me, after having read my 'expressive writing' assignments, that i am like a dandelion. i can grow anywhere i wanted, i can be anyone i wanted, i can be with anybody and i would still thrive. i can be defeated but i will not be bowed. i am strong against the wildest wind; i am hard as a rock. i can rise above any challenge mostly unscathed. if i lose, it only toughens me.
i am not afraid to be alone, to face life on my own, to fight my own battle. i can carry things through by myself. i am a single entity, an individual. i cannot be defined or identified with anybody. and i don't belong to anyone. i am me.
-o0o-
a few weeks ago, i photographed a dandelion flower, newly bloomed, growing through the spaces between a pile of rocks. i like to agree with arnie.
in high school, when i first learned about the great literary novels and poems, there is one poem that has been my mantra as i grew older:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
- "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley
I love the image and the poem and seriously envy that attitude. I can't claim it at all, fear sometimes paralyses me and more of what you expressed here would really make my life easier.
Knowing you through 365 only, I perceive these sentiments all to be true! I just finished a book called "The Dandelion Years' and it was all about 'World War One. 'Dandelion' meant exactly what you have said here in that book!
Already FAVd a long time ago I just now had a chance to read your narrative. Such an apt description of you. This is been a long time since I've read the words to Invictus but it is definitely you! As is this photograph! Stunning concept and execution.
You...the strong beauty... You...the creative thinker... You...the marvelous writer! This is wonderful! Do my eyes deceive me in this blended photo or is that
You...the blonde...?!
@summerfield Love it! It's beautiful!
Just today I was telling a friend how you fell in loe with NS...you and Bill, too! ...ahh, it was my new neighbour. She came here from Toronto and loves the tranquility! I know you get that!
You...the blonde...?!
Just today I was telling a friend how you fell in loe with NS...you and Bill, too! ...ahh, it was my new neighbour. She came here from Toronto and loves the tranquility! I know you get that!