R.L. Swihart's Blog, page 61

March 15, 2022

The Last Battle

“There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”

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Published on March 15, 2022 09:27

The Last Battle: We all find what we truly seek

But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.

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Published on March 15, 2022 08:45

Magician in the Trees





Magician in the Trees @ Whittier Narrows.


#rlswihart13 #california #whittiernarrows #whittier #magicians #heronsofinstagram #greatblueherons #nature #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022 #ukraine

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Published on March 15, 2022 07:57

The Last Battle

He looked round again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction, and his new friends all round him, laughing. “It seems, then,” said Tirian, smiling himself, “that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places.” “Yes,” said the Lord Digory. “Its inside is bigger than its outside.” “Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.” It was the first time she had spoken, and from the thrill in her voice, Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in even more deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak. He wanted to hear her speak again, so he said: “Of your courtesy, Madam, tell on. Tell me your whole adventure.”

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Published on March 15, 2022 07:53

March 12, 2022

The Last Battle

“You look wonderful, wonderful,” said the Ape. “If anyone saw you now, they’d think you were Aslan, the Great Lion, himself.” “That would be dreadful,” said Puzzle. “No it wouldn’t,” said Shift. “Everyone would do whatever you told them.” “But I don’t want to tell them anything.” “But you think of the good we could do!” said Shift. “You’d have me to advise you, you know. I’d think of sensible orders for you to give. And everyone would have to obey us, even the King himself. We would set everything right in Narnia.” “But isn’t everything right already?” said Puzzle. “What!” cried Shift. “Everything right—when there are no oranges or bananas?”

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Published on March 12, 2022 08:16

Summer Tanager






Summer Tanager (I christen Thee The Bee Muncher) @ Whittier Narrows.


#rlswihart13 #losangeles #whittiernarrows #redbirds #birdsofinstagram #thebeemuncher #summertanager #tanagers #nature #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022

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Published on March 12, 2022 07:35

The Silver Chair

Then they saw that they were once more on the Mountain of Aslan, high up above and beyond the end of that world in which Narnia lies. But the strange thing was that the funeral music for King Caspian still went on, though no one could tell where it came from. They were walking beside the stream and the Lion went before them: and he became so beautiful, and the music so despairing, that Jill did not know which of them it was that filled her eyes with tears. Then Aslan stopped, and the children looked into the stream. And there, on the golden gravel of the bed of the stream, lay King Caspian, dead, with the water flowing over him like liquid glass. His long white beard swayed in it like water-weed. And all three stood and wept. Even the Lion wept: great Lion-tears, each tear more precious than the Earth would be if it was a single solid diamond. And Jill noticed that Eustace looked neither like a child crying, nor like a boy crying and wanting to hide it, but like a grown-up crying. At least, that is the nearest she could get to it; but really, as she said, people don’t seem to have any particular ages on that mountain.

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Published on March 12, 2022 07:28

March 5, 2022

Wood Ducks

 




Wood Ducks @ Irvine Regional Park.


#rlswihart13 #irvinecalifornia #irvineregionalpark #ducksofinstagram #woodducks #nature #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022

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Published on March 05, 2022 11:02

The Silver Chair

 “Do you eat girls?” she said. “I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

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Published on March 05, 2022 10:57

March 2, 2022

California Quail





Shot from my car near Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: California Quail. Only got two half-decent shots of the "lookout" (the third one of him sliding down the branch isn't worth posting). The others were too fast in retreating into the desert landscape.


#rlswihart13 #scalifornia #anzaborrego #desertlandscape #birdsofinstagram #quails #californiaquail #nature #lookouts #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022

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Published on March 02, 2022 06:17