This, another of my early haiku, and an old favourite. Watching the stars, listening to the day become evening, then night; the twinkling of cottage lights appearing one by one on the distant hillsides-yellow stars, fallen from the violet, not-quite-black, sky. High up, unseen, a lone Curlew calls ...
Perhaps listening to a little night music as more and more stars appear ...
Or this one, an all time classic from Don McLean ... ‘Starry Starry Night’ ...
And here’s the call of the Curlew again as interpreted by Oliver Messiaen ... ‘Le Courlis Cendre’ ...
Not everybody’s cup of tea but a unique and innovative piece of music nonetheless.
Artist Credit
The painting by Deb Anderson is a 12"x12" oil on board painting of the Night Sky and the Seven Sisters (The Pleiades) and is used here edited with her permission. She does beautiful paintings so her blog is well worth a browse - I especially like her night sky ones, landscapes and plants.
Here is a link to her post:
https://debrha.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/oil-painting-of-the-night-sky-seven-sisters/
Many of her paintings are for sale - you may find just the one you're looking for ...
Citation
The recording by Stein Ø. Nilsen is used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. This and many more can be found at - Xeno-Canto a website dedicated to sharing bird sounds from all over the world.
A lovely verse, Clive! So much rain here we can’t see the stars so we make up for it with your post 😊
Thanks Ashley – try playing the recording of Curlew over the beginning (or maybe even better as the track fades) of track 6 of The Pleiades while looking at Debs painting – Curlew and starry nights …
Haha, will do! The Pleiades is wonderful. It has dried up this afternoon but it’s still overcast🌂brolly at the ready
The Sun was out a moment ago! Raining again now …
Another beautiful posting. Vincent is my favorite song from this artist also. You had me twice with this one.
Thank you! A double whammy 😊
Hauntingly beautiful Clive.
In my late teens, in summertime I often used to sit on the side of a hill and watch the lights come on in the windows of cottages across the valley and a little bit later as the sky got darker curtains being drawn. I could imagine the people inside having a meal and settling down in front of the telly or playing card games with their kids. Later some would let a dog out. Then downstairs lights would go out and I would be left alone with the bats and the badgers – well past my bedtime. I can’t really describe the magical feeling other than I sort of felt totally at one with the universe!
Magnificent sounds and evocation. Raining here too and very cold! Lovely and green though.
The Sun has finally come through this evening Jane – very welcome after a few days of almost solid rain. The birds are singing again and suddenly yes everywhere is lovely and green. Thank you 😊
love the Messiaen also
Messiaen I think is a bit like Marmite you either love or hate his work. It does take some getting used too – not what I’d call easy listening!
I love the haiku and the prose!! Beautiful words! The recording of the curlew sounds otherworldly. Thanks, Clive.
I thought the recording a bit short but don’t want to mess around with it, anymore than I have to. I’m glad you liked it tho’ Ed. Thanks for the transplant 😊🙏