I saw all these things in my sleep. Nature approached me, calling me by my name; and he bade me take heed, and gather wisdom from all the wonders of the world. And I saw the sun and the sea, and the sandy shores, and the places where birds and beasts go forth with their mates - wild snakes in the woods, and wonderful birds whose feathers were flecked with many colours.
And I beheld the birds in the bushes building their nests, which no man, with all his wits, could ever make. And I marvelled to know who taught the magpie to place the sticks in which to lay her eggs and to breed her young; for no craftsman could make such a nest hold together, and it would be a wonderful mason who could make a mould for it!
And yet I wondered still more at other birds - how they concealed and covered their eggs secretly on moors and marshlands, so that men should never find them; and how they hid them more carefully still when they went away, for fear of birds of prey and of wild beasts.
I saw the flowers in the woods, with all their bright colours, growing with so many hues in the green grass. And it seemed to me strange that some were rank, while others were sweet, but it would take too long to speak of all their kinds, and their many different colours.Yet the thing that moved me most, and changed my way of thinking, was that Reason rules and cared for all the beasts, except only for man and his mate; for many a time they wandered ungoverned by Reason.
Piers the Ploughman, by William Langland, written in the second half of the Fourteenth Century (a long time before the Age of Reason)
5 comments:
Thats one bloke from history I would love to spend the evening over dinner with.
That Magpie photo could have been taken from my window today, there was a similar scene over on the fields.
What a good post, where do you find all these books!
I enjoyed that. I do enjoy your blog. I am delighted to discover I have a pair of collared doves nesting just outside my kitchen window under the ledge of the fire escape. I have been watching them build their nest and hope to one day see their young emerge (-:
Warren, the book is one of many gathering dust on the bookshelf. These sentiments and indeed many others in the book struck me as being relevant to our modern times.
Girl, those comments mean a lot to me, thanks!
Good luck to your doves - that must be lovely to see.
Steve ,
I would like to say that I understood all of that ,
but I did like the pictures .
Wonderful....so well written. I see the hand of my Father in all of creation and wonder how anyone can doubt that the hand of an Artist created it all and guides its ways.
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