SERENITY...

“Surely we have a responsibility to leave for future generations a planet that is healthy and habitable by all species” - Sir David Attenborough

The prompt from “Poets and Storytellers United” this week is to write something about “something with both spooky and summery themes”. I am watching with horror the terrible Summer wildfires in Europe, the worsening situation in Israel/Gaza, the ongoing war in Ukraine. I see the world leaders of many countries blithely following a path of totalitarianism and self-interest, ignoring a looming climate catastrophe and a path leading to more warfare… I look at the increasing destruction of world wilderness areas, the effects of our pollution, and our thoughtless use of natural resources, and yes, I am spooked by all this…

Serenity...

The news is bleak, the world is marred,
We live in fear, our lives are scarred.
Our leaders crazy, and the people crazed
Crime, greed and murder, society’s razed.

The planet’s suffering, the climate’s changed
Animals dying, nature’s deranged.
Fires are raging, floods drowning each city,
While nature’s turned on us with no pity.

All that I wish for is peace, serenity,
And all I get is conflict, obscenity.
All that I need is a home and love,
And what I get is bombs from above.
Oh, please, give me serenity!

Oceans are poisoned, rivers polluted,
Species extinct, resources looted;
The air is toxic, our water’s blighted
The people uncaring, deeply benighted.

The threat of war, total destruction,
The earth beset by an evil fluxion;
We dread the worse but choose inaction
It’s time to shake off vapid abstraction.

All that I wish for is peace and quiet,
And all I get is conflict, evil, riot.
All that I need is care, affection
And what I get is scorn, rejection.
Oh, please, no more disquiet!

All that I wish for is peace, serenity,
Give me true justice, give me lenity…
Oh, please, give me serenity!

This poem is set to music, and you can find all references to my music in my “Otidorchestre” channel, or listen to it on YouTube,  Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

Please note that the song has been submitted to music sharing sites, but there is a variable period of delay until the song is publicly released. YouTube is generally the most prompt.

COUNTING STARS

“Perhaps they are not stars, but openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.” – ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The New What’s Going On Blog has set a theme of “Love Letter from the Afterlife” this week. One of the hardest situations we have to deal with as humans is the loss of a loved one. Especially so a partner, with whom we have shared our life up to the point of the cruel separation. If we are believers, we know that after death there is the assurance that we will rejoin our loved ones. If belief is absent or if doubt in the existence of the afterlife is in our heart, the pain of loss becomes much more severe. Losing a partner, especially one who is young may seem unjust, unfair, irrational. My poem today looks at this loss, but the viewpoint is from the eyes of the survivor…

Counting Stars

The night is dark,
But sky so starry.
You’ve left your mark,
I’m now so chary…

Mars red, is bright, angry tonight
Venus so silver, hides behind a cloud;
The moon has set, no more alight,
While stars by early morning cowed. 

And I, look up, the heavens scan
To find a reason and an explanation;
Perhaps a goal, illusions, or a master plan?
Or some divine order of causation…

Alone, my heart is hard and cold,
Alone, my thoughts irrational,
I tremble and my breath I hold,
To make of chaos something rational.

As dawn comes gently, like a feather
The eastern skies blush and lighten;
I count the fading stars to see whether
One will shine on, as the hours brighten.

Even the brightest star soon is gone
The mystery of night, I’ll never know,
Soon comes the sun, birdsong, early dawn,
And somewhere, near, a cock should crow…

Alone, my heart is hard and cold,
Alone, my thoughts irrational,
I tremble and my breath I hold,
To make of chaos something rational.

The day so bright,
But my heart is black.
You took your light,
I feel so much your lack…

This poem is set to music, and you can find all references to my music in my “Otidorchestre” channel, or listen to it on YouTube, Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 510 - BADAIN JARAN DESERT, CHINA

“I had to live in the desert before I could understand the full value of grass in a green ditch.” - Ella Maillart

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.
Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

The Badain Jaran Desert (Chinese: 巴丹吉林沙漠; pinyin: Bādānjílín Shāmò) is a desert in China which spans the provinces of Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. It covers an area of 49,000 square kilometers. By size it is the third largest desert in China. This desert is home to some of the tallest stationary dunes on Earth, with some reaching a height of more than 500 meters, although most average at around 200 meters. Its tallest dune is also measured, from base to peak, as the world's third tallest dune and highest stationary dune in the world.
The desert also features over 100 spring-fed lakes that lie between the dunes, some of which are fresh water while others are extremely saline. These lakes give the desert its name which is Mongolian for "mysterious lakes". These lakes are not completely studied and high pH lakes harbour extremely interesting animal communities. It is also crossed by one river, the Ruo Shui ("weak water"), which has formed an alluvial plain in the desert.
The Badain Jaran megadunes is one of the few places where the singing sand phenomenon occurs, in which the sand emits a sharp, loud noise that can be maintained for more than a minute. Although it is not fully understood, it is believed that it is caused by an electrostatic charge that is generated as wind pulls the top layers of sand down a dune slope. This will produce a low pitched rumble that can reach over 105 decibels. The "singing" starts with an avalanche of sand down the leeward face of a large dune.

On July 27 2025 China's Badain Jaran Desert - Towers of Sand and Lakes, successfully passed the review process to be included on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

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