Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of the first poets I learned to like as a child when I was just beginning to appreciate poetry. He was easy enough to understand unlike some other poets, and I liked how his poems progressed in a logical way. In my search for a poem to feature this week I came across this one that I vaguely remembered from those early years and immediately recognized that my search had ended. The Bridge by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I stood on the bridge at midnight, As the clocks were striking the hour, And the moon rose o'er the city, Behind the dark church-tower. I saw her bright reflection In the waters under me, Like a golden goblet falling And sinking into the sea. And far in the hazy distance Of that lovely night in June, The blaze of the flaming furnace Gleamed redder than the moon. Among the long, black rafters The wavering shadows lay, And the current that came ...
A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : This little cutie is the Mountain Chickadee , a resident throughout much of western North America from Canada right down into Baja Mexico and it is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week . Much of its range overlaps with that of its close cousin, the Black-capped Chickadee . Its conservation status is currently of least concern although its population is decreasing. Climate change and loss of habitat pose the greatest threats to its continued survival. *~*~*~* A new study has found that bird declines are accelerating . *~*~*~* Livestock in many areas of Central Texas are protected from coyotes by dogs who live among the herds . *~*~*~* The oldest state park in the country is the Niagara State Park in western New York and it is about to get much bigger . *~*~*~* Most of us still have Neanderthal DNA as part of our genome and that actually highlights some interesting differences between them and modern human...