Circadian rhythms
Life’s gentle tempo
Synchronising innately
Internal pulse on the go
Regulating organically
As zeitgebers unlock
The ways and behaviours
Modulating the clock
That ticks through each one of us
Entraining the way
To adjust biologically
To each night and each day
Some features of the human circadian (24-hour) biological clock
What is a child? It’s hard to say
For concepts and beliefs
Vary so much from here to there
In time span and relief
A “social actor” some may say
With ideas of their own
Or maybe childhood simply is
A construct all alone
A definition of the young
That’s made to represent
The way non-adults operate
And their development
Development that wax and wanes
With patterns that reveal
A change towards more organised
Not just the way they feel
Debated through biology
And the environment
Traced back to the great minds of old
Philosophy’s intent
And so what is a child you ask?
A question that implores
The quest to look at social traits
Genes, culture and much more
Reference: Woodhead, M. (2005). ‘Children and Development’ in Oates, J. Wood, C. Grayson, A. (eds) Psychological Development and Early Childhood, Milton Keynes: Open University
Today I left my egg sac with
A million new siblings
To see the world and find out more
As hatched out spiderlings
And in a cluster we amassed
On sill of window frame
To ponder what we would do next
How to explore life’s game!
Some wandered off in search of food
Whilst others stayed to grow
But I ballooned and cast my silk
To catch the wild airflow
And off I went so far away
To strange and distant shore
On breeze to live arachnid life
As spider evermore
“Gasteracantha mammosa” (G. cancriformis?) spiderlings next to their egg capsule. The size of each spiderling is 1 -2 mm. Photographed on Hawai’i Big Island. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Behold the golden sunshine fields
The waves of yellow spread
The verdant stalks with aurous bloom
With ochroid flowering head
The ocean’s mass so iodic
The seed that rapes the eye
To steal the breath of those who see
The brassica out lie
Behold the golden sunshine fields
The waves of yellow spread
The verdant stalks with aurous bloom
The rape-seed oily bed
English: A field of Oil Seed Rape (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dear Spider, Spider overhead
Please do not drop down on my bed
Or else I will just have to shout
And maybe get the vacuum out
For there’s no room for both of us
So please don’t stall and make a fuss
But hurry off and disappear
Saving falling down to gnaw my ear
And in my mouth, please do not creep
Go Spider dear – leave me to sleep!
How know you that the dodo lived
That bird now gone from earth
That strutted fields and foreign realms
And of Mauritian birth
The bird that now is so extinct
It will not tweet anew
That walked so free in time gone by
Now disappeared from view
And yet that lesson still not learnt
As animals demise
From weaponry of human greed
Consumed before our eyes
So save this ball on that we spin
Through space and galaxies
Safeguarding all endangered lives
Protect all rare species
For let our children not grow old
To only recollect
From books the pictures of wildlife
They’ll otherwise forget
And steadfastly let creeds be drawn
Save beasts to roam so free
To walk the world for we must learn
The Dodo’s legacy
Dodo reconstruction (Raphus cucullatus) reflecting new research at Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I rode a silver humpback whale
Across the open sea
With songs of pure delight that rang
Out loud with great beauty
With fluke that pushed us through the waves
Propelling with such might
Whilst breaching to the highest skies
And splash of sheer delight
My humpback whale swan on and on
From pole to midline sure
Accompanied with other kin
Who joined in on the tour
On migrant trip from north to south
With me set on his back
To see the warmer ocean tides
To feed; to keep on track
Such splendour and wonder inspired
Majestically he went
The humpback whale cross ocean’s grand
And me; a maid of Kent
And all the while he sang and sung
With moans, and howls and cries
Cross waters auditorium
Repeating his reprise
To herald all from far and wide
To see; behold his power
The silver humpback whale that swam
And sung for hour on hour
A Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), a member of order Cetacea (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It won’t be long til you can go
Down in the bosky wood
To see a new year sprout again
With leaves in bud; hear birds’ refrain
Imbue the spring air good
Where lambs will jump up through the air
And Daffs blow on the breeze
Where life will rise up from the ground
To herald in the season sound
From hibernation’s freeze
And there above the canopy
The sun will start to climb
Up in the sky with greater strength
With warmth kept no more at arm’s length
By hailing in springtime
Dear Mole – I can see you!
What excuse did you say
You have for the damage
As you trundle your way
Right under my lawn
Leaving lumps and mole hills
What’s your onward address?
Can I send you the bills?
Can you fix up the mess?
You have left in your wake
Oh don’t look so amazed
For it’s quite a mistake
To make such a state
Of my lawn and my grass
So clear off and scarper
For it really won’t pass
No it’s really not on
To just do what you’ve done
For it looks like the lawn
Is now covered in buns
So pack up your bags
And move on please quickly
For despite your cute looks
It’s in fact felony!
So Mole, please now listen
If you leave me in peace
I’ll forgive you this once
And not call the police.
Else mole detectives
Will catch you for sure
For trespass and damage
And for breaking the law!
Ginz&Tonic 