Saturday, March 28, 2009

Neighbor Island Nene

Click on photos to enlarge! Far away from Honolulu. Rural Big Island

“We artists! We moon-struck and God-struck ones! We death-silent, untiring wanderers on heights which we do not see as heights, but as our plains, as our places of safety!”
Friedrich Nietzsche




A world of worlds on a green leaf


A wanderer is man from his birth. / He was born in a ship / On the breast of the river of Time.”
Matthew Arnold




The gentle Nene Goose mates for life

“The family is one of nature's masterpieces.”
George Santayana


The winds of the world can blow you off course, especially if you soar far beyond your local skies.




To see your fledgling nest from the top of the highest tree reveals other, undreamed, unexpected vistas of possibility.





At first there is only excitement. Excitement and (to be honest) fear. But the excitement, or the wanderlust, or disgust with your surroundings, goads you higher. The sun is intoxicating, the winds of early Spring beguile like new playmates.





Discomfort is part of the game. Unaccustomed food and voices feed your days. But each moment un-moored bursts with presence. Even boredom is romantic as you explore the streets of a new town before it's morning begins.





You land beside still waters. Children, lovers, madmen, and the aged share a few moments and their crusts of bread with you in the long afternoon light. You sleep with your dreaming head buried in oil slicked feathers, and wake each day to the first day of life in the Garden. But something clicks, the temperature, or temper tantrum of a fellow wanderer. And the sky, always the sky, renews its imprecations as you fly to embrace new winds. Forward always forward. Calling, always calling.




Sometimes answered.




At last, a most heroic flight. With fleets of feathered navigators - far far from accustomed climes, at the end's reach of endurance, above an endless water sky.





First a feeling, then a smell, a change in the vast empyrean. Till low clouds sing the joy: Land! A verdant mountain rises from that endless sea of purgatory. Land! You remember. You once had feet and still wings beside a rock instead of unconstant clouds. Remember?




It wasn't just a dream!




Water and water bugs. Ferns and bracken. No fox, no snake, no lightning. And maybe just because you're finally tired, after crossing the greatest crossing of them all, nudged by upper level jets and the lack of landing for mile upon night, and day upon mile. . . at last you stretch your neck content. Your tail end waggles in satisfaction as you feed. We few are the far fliers. We are the very best!




And after many ages pass, you forget that any other place, any other life ever existed. You are a distinct species: The Nene Goose, State Bird of Hawaii.



We now understand that this emblem of Hawaii, genetically distinct from any other bird, was once an immigrant, a malihini.



It was once a Canada Goose. A visitor off course who stayed, who changed.



Like me.


A L O H A! Cloudia



14 comments:

  1. Nice raindrops on leaves ans the goos family is very cute !
    ALOHA, Cloudia !

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  2. The passion for the flying is the road for the changing evolution to become a new creature. Lovely thoughts in this your, most recent flight born on the wings of words Cloudia.

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  3. Rara avis thou art, O Cloudia.

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  4. Silly goose am I; I would have always guessed that this is your course that you are on...

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  5. I love it and I love the ending. I thought Canada goose when I saw the picture and as I was reading. Then I thought, nah; they live here. What a great metaphorical story. I learned!

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  6. Fabulous picture of the geese. Thanks for posting that.

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  7. This is so beautiful, Cloudia. It speaks to me on various levels, as I look back on my own journey.

    'To see your fledgling nest from the top of the highest tree reveals other, undreamed, unexpected vistas of possibility.'

    I'm going to climb a tall tree this afternoon ...

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  8. Nice ode to the geese. That pic is a wonderful image.

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  9. I love the picture of the Canadian Goose also!

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  10. Wandered over from another blog, and so glad I did!
    I can so relate to you in this post - I once was a Dutch Goose, now living in Los Angeles. Our son (in the post of today-a Skype Ralionship) was an L.A. goose, now living in China -doesnt' have it from a stranger, LOL

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  11. Wow, that story really stopped me in my tracks, so to speak. I have heard of the nene, but had no idea it was descended from the Canada goose. I checked with Wikipedia, and they said perhaps as long ago as half a million years! I just LOVE knowing that - thanks for much for this post. Lots here that I enjoyed, too, beyond what I just singled out!

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  12. i'm always awestruck by the beauty, cloudia :D

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  13. I want to lift my wings and fly with you above the islands and feel the beauty you see every day.

    Wonderful! Damn you rock!

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  14. I want to lift my wings and fly with you above the islands and feel the beauty you see every day.

    Wonderful! Damn you rock!

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