Our World is on Fire! (Article in Progress)

Our World is on Fire!

Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

"The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Chain Reaction Armageddon"*

 "What does it mean to die when you can live until the end 

of the world?" - Anne Rice

 

Our World on Fire

    Sunset, a time for retreat and prayer,

 like sunrise, will be missed forever;

too soon for our planet's life span, 

designed in a system with the sun.

"Anticipating the end of the world is humanity's oldest 

pastime." - David Mitchell

 

Our World in Ashes 

     The Phoenix Bird rises from its ashes is a story,

    from ancient legend to the level of philosophy,

  a paradox of building and destroying beauty -

What then is posterity, what is immortality? 

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." - Martin Luther

 

Our Dead Planet

  No, it's no longer a blue planet we once knew;

beautiful, peaceful, like blue diamond's glow.

Where have all the wonderful creatures gone,

    and the proud heritage and monuments of man?

"When I was younger I wish I'd known that what often seemed to be the 'end of the world' often turned out to be a positive and transformative experience!" - Annie Lennox

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* Armageddon refers to the prophesied final, calamitous battle between good and evil forces, originating from the Book of Revelation, signifying a cataclysmic end-of-the-world scenario. 

A nuclear chain reaction is a self-sustaining process where a split atom (fission) releases neutrons that trigger further fission in nearby, usually uranium, atoms, releasing massive amounts of energy. Excerpt Wikipedia

"Sea on the Wall" Forever

                                   "Sea on the Wall" Forever

Mural by Dr Abe V Rotor

I love to paint the sea, the sea

    when I was then young -

as young as today in my memory,

    and art after I'm gone.

"Sea on the Wall" Mural detail, AVRotor 2015 at author's residence 

in Lagro QC (30ft x 15ft)

Nature's Recyclers

Nature's Recyclers

Dr Abe V Rotor

Foliose lichen grows and breaks down the lignin of wood.
Parks and Wildlife Nature Center, QC

Moss builds soil from rock, an example of biological 

weathering.Calaruega Retreat Center, Alfonso, Cavite

Termites eat wood with the aid of protozoa that live in
their stomach, an ideal example of symbiosis.

Termite mound covers a tree stump. Parks and Wildlife
Nature Center, Quezon City.

Mushrooms grow on plant residues, and convert them into
humus which fertilizes the crop. Antipolo, Rizal

Shelf mushrooms grow on dead wood, eventually converting
it into soil that piles up on the forest floor. Mt. Makiling, Laguna

Rot fungi blanket the dead limb of Ficus tree.
UST Manila.

A host of soil insects, principally crickets and grubs, was
responsible in toppling this tree. Caliraya Lake, Laguna.

Rhizobium bacteria convert atmospheric Nitrogen into nitrate
for the use of plants. Note tubercles in lower photo where the
beneficial bacteria reside. ~

Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polytes)

 Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polytes) 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Frass-like caterpillars of Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polytes)

feeding on citrus leaves.  Photo by the author.

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 in 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. ~

Live and mounted specimens of Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polytes)
The swallowtail butterflies represent the grace and free nature of the 

human soul. They are associated with hope, endurance, change, and life. 

Photos and artwork by the author. ~

Raise the lily flowers high

 Raise the lily flowers high

Dr Abe V Rotor

     White lily (Fleur de liz), emblem of Saint Paul of Chartres congregation

When the world is down and one looks up to heaven,

Many hands, big and small, raise the lily flowers high;

When the path is thorny and rough and uncertain,

Flowering lilies near and far take away your sigh.

And when the summer sun torches the earth dry,

Lilies bloom while other creatures go to sleep,

In pure delight offer the world in war and grief,

Hope and peace, and comfort for those who weep. ~

Fight for a Cause, a peerless chance.

                                  Fight for a Cause, a peerless chance. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                            No, not a mob adrift with the current;

fight for a Cause, a peerless chance;

 death the cost, but the meaning of your life,

while you walk here on earth but once. 

   Acknowledgement: Internet photo

Spontaneity in Art Reveals Natural Beauty

Living with Nature 

Spontaneity in Art Reveals Natural Beauty 

"Spontaneous art reveals Nature's beauty,

with man's conscious and sub-conscious state,

at peace and quiet, reverence and piety."- avr

Paintings and Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor

A flower in its demise, dies that a new life emerges - in fact a whole offspring many times over in number. Nature's art sets the theme of many a work of artists, they themselves would never have thought of before.  

"Light - its particle-wave property

enables the eye to see

the universe's great mystery."

 - avr

A maze is but a scene gone wild and when captured on canvas or screen suggests an idea akin to one's experience and imagination, such as these galactic representations somewhere in the universe - or under the microscope.   

"With red, blue, and yellow,

   nature creates the rainbow,

  with prism of light through,

  that an image comes true."

 - avr

What is black is not emptiness, but the result in proportional ratio of the primary colors - red, blue, yellow - combined by the power light.  In the process these colors create limitless possible combinations seen by the eye, depending on the organism, invisible rays, mirage, auroras affecting vision, notwithstanding.  

"Travel inside a leaf, other than into space, 

 One small step for man,

a giant leap for mankind - 

      the farther you go into an unknown place." - avr

A leaf in the palm of your hand, or seen as chloroplasts under a powerful lens, freshness of spring, green meadow and hill - captured and nestled in the mind, heart and soul, reflect true peace, "Peace is always beautiful," says Walt Whitman

"A Blade of Grass, Whitman says,

     magnificence of Nature's ways." - avr

"The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection." - Michelangelo