Rima the Bird Girl
You could be Rima the birdgirl
except for your fear of height.
Quetzalcoatl perhaps or the peaceable dove,
except for your fear of flight.
Victor beyond doubt
and still have eyes, ears, teeth, and snout,
except for your fear of rout.
A place in heaven, soul food, and a golden cup,
except for your fear of up.
If you could choose your method,
the means would find the way,
except, of course, for your fear of day.
Death is always open; it might well be well,
except for your fear of hell.
The list is endless, but the end is near:
you might consider your fear of fear.
W. H. Hudson Memorial, Hyde Park, London -- Jacob Epstein
You could be Rima the birdgirl
except for your fear of height.
Quetzalcoatl perhaps or the peaceable dove,
except for your fear of flight.
Victor beyond doubt
and still have eyes, ears, teeth, and snout,
except for your fear of rout.
A place in heaven, soul food, and a golden cup,
except for your fear of up.
If you could choose your method,
the means would find the way,
except, of course, for your fear of day.
Death is always open; it might well be well,
except for your fear of hell.
The list is endless, but the end is near:
you might consider your fear of fear.
W. H. Hudson Memorial, Hyde Park, London -- Jacob Epstein
rima was the heroine of W. H. Hudson's 1904 novel "Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest." Known in Argentina as Guillermo Enrique Hudson, he had produced a series of ornithological studies, including "Argentine Ornithology" (1888–1899) and"British Birds" (1895), as well as books on the English countryside such as "Hampshire Days" (1903), "Afoot in England" (1909), and "A Shepherd's Lifeproduced a series of ornithological studies, including Argentine Ornithology (1888–1899) and British Birds (1895), and later achieved fame with his books on the English countryside, including Hampshire Day (1903), Afoot in England (1909) and A Shepherd's Life: Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs" (1910). Rima was a young woman who was raised in the jungle by her mother, who spoke a strange bird-like language and was thought to possess mystical powers. She was burned to death when the natives torched her sacred tree.
ReplyDeleteQuetzalcohuātl (Nahuatl for "feathered serpent") was the Aztec god of wind, light, justice, mercy, learning, the dawn, merchants, arts, crafts, and the planet Venus. "He was the wind; he was the guide, the road sweeper of the rain gods, of the masters of the water, of those who brought rain. And when the wind increased, it was said, the dust swirled up, it roared, howled, became dark, blew in all directions; there was lightning; it grew wrathful." He was a boundary-maker (and transgressor) between earth and sky and a contributor to the creation of mankind. Before the creation of our universe, the "5th sun," 4 earlier suns had existed. Quetzalcoatl's rival, his brother Tezcatlipoca, the god of judgment, night, deceit, sorcery, and the Earth, had created "The Sun of the Earth" but Quetzalcoatl destroyed it and created the "Sun of Wind," which Tezcatlipoca destroyed in turn. Quetzalcoatl was often regarded as a son of Chimalman ("shield-hand"), perhaps placed in her belly when she swallowed a piece of jade or born as a dream, or as an arrow shot into her womb. In some accounts his mother was Coatlicue ("she who has the skirt of snakes"), who had already borne the 400 stars of the Milky Way. After Tezcatlipoca made him drunk on pulque (the fermented sap of the agave plant) he made their virgin sister Quetzalpetlatl pregnant; the next morning he ordered his servants to build him a stone chest, adorn him in turquoise, and set himself on fire inside the chest. His ashes rose into the sky and then his heart followed, becoming the morning star.
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