My grandson's first birthday is coming up, and I thought, there isn't anything that children like more than animals and bright colors. So, I took the opportunity to go back over fifteen years of photographs I've taken all over the world of animals and birds, portraits really, and I hoped I would have enough for a whole book. When I finished, I had FOUR books! Those great little board books that kids can teeth on, step on when they learn to walk, and throw when they find their strength. Four books that will last, with pictures of animals and birds I hope he will someday have the chance to see for himself.
The first book I called Brilliant Birds--a macaw, an eagle, a pelican, a parrot, a flamingo, a spoonbill, a toucan, a great blue heron, a barn owl, a great egret and a falcon--all in their glorious colors and plummage, all with expressions that make me want to laugh and cry and be thankful for the beauty soaring over my head (though many of them don't really fly that much).
And my thanks go out to the contributors to the internet because I was able to find a short poem for each of the birds, even the spoonbill. Go figure.
But, not to be out done by all the wonderful poets out there, I wrote my own as a message to my grandson.
Ten thousand species
fly the world
around; if legends
are to be heard,
birds are the creators
of the universe.
In you is the soul
of one of these birds,
brought for you
alone to rule
the Earth
See all the brilliant birds in the Gallery of that name on the website Digital Photography and Art page.
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