Reptile Wars

[Ginger]

The Old Lizard

by Federico García Lorca
translated by Lysander Kemp

In the parched path
I have seen the good lizard
(one drop of crocodile)
meditating.
With his green frock-coat
of an abbot of the devil,
his correct bearing
and his stiff collar,
he has the sad air
of an old professor.
Those faded eyes
of a broken artist,
how they watch the afternoon
in dismay!

Is this, my friend,
your twilight constitutional?
Please use your cane,
you are very old, Mr. Lizard,
and the children of the village
may startle you.
What are you seeking in the path,
my near-sighted philosopher,
if the wavering phantasm
of the parched afternoon
has broken the horizon?

Are you seeking the blue alms
of the moribund heaven?
A penny of a star?
Or perhaps
you've been reading a volume
of Lamartine, and you relish
the plateresque trills
of the birds?

(You watch the setting sun,
and your eyes shine,
oh, dragon of the frogs,
with a human radiance.
Ideas, gondolas without oars,
cross the shadowy
waters of your
burnt-out eyes.)

Have you come looking
for that lovely lady lizard,
green as the wheatfields
of May,
as the long locks
of sleeping pools,
who scorned you, and then
left you in your field?
Oh, sweet idyll, broken
among the sweet sedges!
But, live! What the devil!
I like you.
The motto "I oppose
the serpent" triumphs
in that grand double chin
of a Christian archbishop.

Now the sun has dissolved
in the cup of the mountains,
and the flocks
cloud the roadway.
It is the hour to depart:
leave the dry path
and your meditations.
You will have time
to look at the stars
when the worms are eating you
at their leisure.

Go home to your house
by the village, of the crickets!
Good night, my friend
Mr. Lizard!

Now the field is empty,
the mountains dim,
the roadway deserted.
Only, now and again,
a cuckoo sings in the darkness
of the poplar trees.

[Ginger]

Snake by Theodore Roethke

I saw a young snake glide
Out of the mottled shade
And hang, limp on a stone:
A thin mouth, and a tongue
Stayed, in the still air.

It turned; it drew away;
Its shadow bent in half;
It quickened and was gone

I felt my slow blood warm.
I longed to be that thing.
The pure, sensuous form.

And I may be, some time.

[Kätzchen]

Western Diamond Back Rattlers (from Idaho) are very dangerous. I couldn't find a picture close to remembling the type I have seen, but I did find this picture: Diamond Backs, no matter how big they get, are capable of walking on their tails, climbing trees or jumping up from rocks (out of nowhere)! They are deadly snakes. If per chance you are bit by one and no help is around, you only have a small window time to get help. Maybe half an hour to an hour? Depending on how severe the bite is or items about the snake bite victim. It's always wise, in Idaho, to carry a snake bite kit and a gun if you're out on the desert or up in the mountains or down by a river. Baby Diamondback rattlers are quick, fast to jump from their nest. I nearly got bit one time, it scared me to death!
I've seen Diamondbacks coiled up on a deserted backroad in Idaho... he was probably about nine to 10 foot long, probably a circumference of about the size of a muscular bicep of a pro-westler, baking on an old cement highway in broad daylight. It's always wise to keep your distance from Diamondbacks.

[Ginger]

Ironic, how the pythons are called "invasive," when they were kidnapped from Southeast Asia and sold over the Internet to idiots in the U.S. who then abandoned them into the Everglades when they got too big—and the pythons looked around at that swampy heaven on earth and said, Sweet!

[Tommi]

[Martina]

[Martina]

[Martina]

[LeftWriteFemme]

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by Martina

"With his green frock-coat
of an abbot of the devil,
his correct bearing
and his stiff collar,
he has the sad air
of an old professor."

See, Lorca had it right!

[Martina]

Tortoises at dawn in the Galapagos. According to The Telegraph, one of the best nature photos of all time. Pretty primeval looking, I have to say.

[Martina]

[Blaze]

I have a very tender spot for Jackson Chameleons, Someone let some lose in Hawaii's mountain terrain and the population exploded. So we would go in the evening and bring head flashlights and cages and catch them and sell them, we made a pretty good business out of selling them.
Until I realized that many people don't know how to properly care for these lovely creatures so I stopped catching them I couldn't let another innocent lizard starve to death or live in a little wire or glass cage without the right elements and care to live happily. So I started to just photograph them instead.



Above are males, I tend to like them more because of their horns and prehistoric look, below is a female, females don't have horns, but they are still pretty...

[Martina]

As a caption, all I can think of is, "Well . . . ."

[Martina]

[Martina]

[Kätzchen]

My daughter swam with Rocket Girl on a scuba diving trip to the Hawaiian Islands, a couple of years ago.



The Hawksbill Turtle is a critically endangered species.

LINK: http://hawksbillturtles.org/

[Martina]

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs...opstories.html

[Kätzchen]

[Kätzchen]