Reflection is Human Nature

Always Find the Time to Reflect

"Keen is sight atop a hill when the sky is blue and clear." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Hush, hush,

suddenly the world became still;

gone is the lark in the sky

and raven on the window sill.

2. The bamboo I cut is not really mine,

this giant grass, a reed sublime;

in the wind it rings a sweet old chime

into a song sans words and rhyme.

3. When the geese take to the air

their leader first breaks the barrier;

on the dovetail trail ride the flock

in synergy, confidence and luck.

Lenten season is a time of reflection 

4. The Arch honors the great;

it stands with the people's faith

through seasons and through the ages

enshrined in history's pages.

5. Two paintings of the same subject

the imagination may recollect;

however truthful that we may aim

    will the paintings ever be the same.

6. "Tell me it is true," her faith implied,

"the sun is moving," she cried;

archetypes from memories relive

in those who blindly believe.

7. Full and heavy is the grain

in the field shining in gold,

nurtured by the monsoon rain

and by faith a thousand fold.

8. Flow gently like sweet Afton, flow;

but that was a long time ago;

now that you are covered with silt,

this song would no longer fit.

9. The moon is a boat floating,

yet brief it is in one place;

the boat is now sinking,

sinking into its new phase.

10. Children are children

seeking adventure away from crowd;

curiosity, danger and dream

lie beyond the cloud.

11. Flowers are full of promises,

they are the bridge of the gene,

the essence of a compromise,

opening a chapter and scene.

12. Nature's architecture

copied in a concrete world;

we of little faith are told -

all this is man's grandeur.

13. Bats, they cling in some dark dome

designed to be their home;

cast omen that sets them apart

from us who detest their art.

14. Long forgotten is Malthus ghost,

haunting Baghdad after Hanoi,

where Big Brother once again plays host,

benevolence a game of decoy.

15. Renaissance and God's word

ride on the Cross and Sword -

two tools their roles apart,

yet ruled by the latter's part.

16. The curse of the all Supreme

is to push man to the brim

when he acts with the god in him

and defies Mount Olympus hymn.

17. I asked how many friends I have;

the click beetle, it knew what I said;

pressing its breast my wish implied,

and all I wanted it complied.

18. Ode to the Cicada

Man may sing better and without end,

and perhaps his bride is more cute;

still he envies you his little friend,

for your bride is forever mute.

Stained glass radiates the spirituality art creates.

19. If you wish to reach heaven alone,

do not anymore bother,

for the Flood has purified your kind;

everyone is now a brother.

20. Keen is sight atop a hill

when the sky is blue and clear;

in the dark it's clearer still

with a heart to see and hear. ~

Quotations on Reflection by Confucius

1. It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get. 

2. If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people. 

3. Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change. 

4. Heaven means to be one with God. 

5. The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home. Confucius We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression. 

 

Test the power of your third eye and eighth sense of naturalism.

Test the power of your third eye
and eighth sense of naturalism.

Dr Abe V Rotor

I cling to the leaves on the nether side,

gnawing on its edible part, a parchment I create

to make a shingle out of it which I carry on my back, 

then transfer nearby for the next meal,

and another shingle, until I look like a pagoda 

sans base, moving from place to place, growing,

then I stop and rest; I remain in stupor.

then metamorphose, leaving my domain - 

I am male and I have wings to find a mate;

the female is wingless, she waits for a mate

at her door, lucky for me - for a brief romance,

then she withdraws into her temple

now a maternal nest, and our life cycle is complete.  

What am I?  

   

Obnoxious I look and smell no one dares to get near,

much less to pick me neither by beak nor tongue,   

for my enemies are few, so my friends - if I know;

you see, if you are ugly and dirty no one bothers you,

like anyone else not excluding some humans;

but in my case Nature designed me this way, 

and she thinks I'm beautiful, to me it is a gift of life;

surviving a cruel world.  I rest now and someday

I'll metamorphose into something beautiful 

in the eyes of humans, so beautiful and dainty

no one will ever ask what I was before.

What am I? 

Answers: Cryptothelea heckmeyeri Heyl (pagoda bagworm), will metamorphose into a moth; Papilio alphenor caterpillar on citrus leaves, will metamorphose into a butterfly.  Both belong to Order Lepidoptera.

Dying Lake - Folly of Human Art

          Dying Lake - Folly of Human Art

"...now I know what mortal means,

seeing the folly of human art." AVR

Dr Abe V Rotor

Two faces of Laguna Bay - deceivingly beautiful from the air, ugly down below. 

For once I am on top of the world,

    seeing many a stage of life below,

nature in her pristine and injured,

    by man's genius, his joy and sorrow.

Endless boundaries keep off the sea,

    facets each a reclaimed chamber;

shed that keeps in the monsoon rain,

    where Ceres descends in October.

Now a dying lake before its own time

    reminiscent of many a legend;

like Mt Olympus once home of the gods,

    leaving but myths at the end.

Oh, I cannot hold on any longer,

    heavy are my thoughts and heart;

now I know what mortal means,

    seeing the folly of human art. ~

  

Laguna Bay is connected to Manila Bay via the Pasig River which passes through the heart of Manila. Heavy pollution is shared by both bays as the tide rises and ebbs daily, as countless tributaries in both bodies of water exacerbating the dilemma. Both bays create a giant pool of garbage, breed disease and poverty, and project an image of man's greed and indifference.

Acknowledgement: Internet photos ~

Green Cross in the Sky

Green Cross in the Sky

Dr Abe V Rotor

             Umbrella Tree (talisay) - Terminalia catappa,
                           San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

            You lost your crown, but not your glory,
                  your function as umbrella tree;
            a ladder leans abandoned and empty;
                  is this symbol of man being free?

            If this is lesson to remind of man's folly
                 and pride against the Almighty,
           rise up on a Hill that was once holy
                 for all humanity to see. ~

Only with the heart that one can see rightly.

  Only with the heart that one can see rightly.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential 

is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

Overlooking the La Mesa Lake

View from a floodgate bridge 

A tranquil pond below the spillway is an excellent fishing ground 

for enthusiasts. A biker negotiates a wooden bridge.

Only with the heart that one can see rightly.*

       On-the-spot Composition at the La Mesa Eco Park
                              by Dr Abe V Rotor 2012

How fleeting time through the generations passed,

     The lake once full, Narcissus idly on its shore,

Waits the nymph Echo passionately in vain ‘til cast,

     Hushing the trees, crying for Narcissus no more.       

If love is blind and lovers cannot see, so with beauty;

     In Song to Celia’s drink to me only with thine eyes

Makes one sober and blind, bathed in prodigious plenty;

     The heart no longer spoken of the soul soon dies.  

Tragedies from wastefulness and indifference tell us

     Often late when the wrath of our own making

Strikes in our sleep and the young innocents.  Aghast!

     Listen, listen to the Four Horsemen thundering. 

* “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

Ilocano Verses: Paslep (Tempered Steel)

 Ilocano Verses: Paslep (Tempered Steel)

Dr Abe V Rotor

Lola and grandchildren. Strong family ties is a characteristic of Ilocanos even in the absence of parents who are working abroad.

Rondalla plays Ilocano romantic and idyllic musical compositions like Pamulinawen and Manang Biday.  

Maestro Anselmo Pelayre of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur ranks with composers Nicanor Abelardo and Antonio Molina.

The Ilocano language of Northern Philippines is among the richest languages in the world. It is primarily because it is a homegrown language that naturally grew with the unique culture of the Ilocanos. It is pictureque, musical to the ear, full of imagery, and rich in vocabulary - which these verses reflect.

Paslep is originally Ilocano, a process and product at the same time of hardening steel through tempering, which was developed long before the coming of the Spaniards. The term has no counterpart in other dialects in the Philippines, not even Tagalog. These verses also reflect universal beliefs and truth, which is characteristically Ilocano amidst the influences of other cultures and the advancement of civilization towards postmodernism.

1. Aggidyat to
Dagiti agpapada,
Kalpasanna.
Things similar may ultimately differ.

2. Mangriing
Dagiti bin-i.
Ceres ken tudo.
A good crop is nurtured by rain and providence.
(Ceres is the Goddess of Bounty in Greek mythology)

3. Bilin ni Tatang:
Kasu-uran adaywam.
Agbal-balasang.
Take it from the old folks, being too homely makes one an old maid.

4. Agtubo manen
Dagiti ruru-ot,
Sagut gurruod.
Weeds are back with the rainy season.

5. Paludip laeng,
Napunuan ti balikas,
Libro ni ayat.
The language of true love may be simple but deep.

6. Ayatennak pay
No irugita manen?
Ay, papaaweng.
Love the second tiime around may lack sincerity.

7. Karu-otan
Paggappuan ti uram,
Ken billit tuleng.
Fire warning on a grassy knoll may fall on deaf ear.
(Take heed of potential danger.)

8. Agmulat’ pagay
Inladawanna’t pader,
Nakasapatos pay.
"You can't grow rice on the blackboard." (Theory and practice are different. Things are easier said than done.)

9. Natartaripato,
Marmargaayan,
Matmatay.
Too much care and too much bounty lead to slow death. (Tender trap)

10. Ayat nga nagpayat
Umay, pumanaw,
Agnaed bassit.
Love has wings, it comes but briefly and leaves.11. Agpilpilika
Ti ayat nga kayatmo,
Freud wenno Plato.
Physical (Freudian) or purist (Platonic) love - it's your choice

12. Burburti: Agpal-pallelang,
Bumab-baba ti init,
Maturog mamen.
A riddle: Acacia, its leaves droop as the sun sets.

13. Pitak ken ling-et
Paslep ti Oktubre
Makasisirap.
"Golden harvest is earned from hard work."

14. Panagipalangip:
Saan mo nga garawen.
Malinlinay.Never stir rice to hasten its cooking.

15. Aginanan ni Maestro,
Imminum ti Hemlock.
Ballegi!
There is glory in death. (Socrates obligingly faced death clinging to his philosophy that changed the thinking of man. Similarly Rizal's death was victory to Filipinos.) ~

Practical pest control methods

 Practical pest control methods

Dr Abe V Rotor

Golden apple snail (Pomacea caniculata) is the number one pest of rice plants today in the Philippines. It lays pink eggs in clusters above the water level ensuring viability and high survival.

1. Snails (kuhol) are controlled with tubli, makabuhay and other plants.
Before the introduction of chemical pesticides our native kuhol was a good source of viand in the ricefield and seldom did it turn against growing rice plants. Almost simultaneously in the sixties the golden kuhol or apple snail (Pomacea caniculata) was introduced with the promise that it is a better gourmet, and that it could even be exported. It did not turn out that way, and with the resistance this exotic mollusk developed having left behind its natural enemies, it emerged a maverick, now the number one pest of rice plants infesting two-thirds of our total lowland ricefield area of no less than two million hectares. Agriculturists have lately turned their attention to phytochemicals to control golden kuhol. These are the plants they have confirmed to be effective.

· Derris philippinensis (derris or tubli)
· Manihot esculenta (cassava)
· Chrysanthemum morifolium  (chrysanthemum)
· Capsicum anuum (pepper or siling labuyo)
· Tinospora rhumpii (makabuhay) - Photo, left
· Azideracta asiatica (Neem)

Except for siling labuyo, the leaves and stems of any of these plants are either crushed or chopped finely and applied directly on the ricefield, controlling the water level up to three to four inches so as to allow the active ingredients to spread out and reach the pest in all of its stages. Where there are two or more of these plants growing in the area, farmers may use them in any combination, either alternately or simultaneously.

2. Incense rids chickens of lice. It also calms them down.
I learned this practice from my father when I was a farmhand. We raised native chickens on the range. In the evening, we would occasionally smoke the fouls in their roasts under the house. “That would rid them of lice (gayamo’ Ilk),” my father assured me. “And pick a cull for tomorrow’s dinner,” he would add.

I would sprinkle powdered incense into live charcoal and you could see the column of smoke rising and filling the roasting area. You could hear the fowls cockle feebly, slowly loosen their feathers and pry their wings as if to allow the cloud of smoke to bathe them. Soon they are lulled to sleep or go into a kind of trance; you could pick them up without any sign of resistance. Without this calming power of incense, the slightest move you make on a roasting chicken would send it squawking in the night.~

Biological Control - Preying or praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) is the number one executioner in the insect world, a friend to farmers and gardeners.