On this day in music history - Sing Like A Siren, by Within Temptation & Jerry Heil (2025):

Sing Like A Siren

Song by Within Temptation & Jerry Heil,
released May 16, 2025.

A Night-Piece, poem by William Wordsworth:

A Night-Piece

Poem by William Wordsworth.

The sky is overcast
With a continuous cloud of texture close,
Heavy and wan, all whitened by the Moon,
Which through that veil is indistinctly seen,
A dull, contracted circle, yielding light
So feebly spread, that not a shadow falls,
Chequering the ground – from rock, plant, tree, or tower.
At length a pleasant instantaneous gleam
Startles the pensive traveller while he treads
His lonesome path, with unobserving eye
Bent earthwards; he looks up – the clouds are split
Asunder, – and above his head he sees
The clear Moon, and the glory of the heavens.
There, in a black-blue vault she sails along,
Followed by multitudes of stars, that, small
And sharp, and bright, along the dark abyss
Drive as she drives: how fast they wheel away,
Yet vanish not! – the wind is in the tree,
But they are silent; – still they roll along
Immeasurably distant; and the vault,
Built round by those white clouds, enormous clouds,
Still deepens its unfathomable depth.
At length the Vision closes; and the mind,
Not undisturbed by the delight it feels,
Which slowly settles into peaceful calm,
Is left to muse upon the solemn scene.

Recommended reading:

William Wordsworth Selected Poems

Video by Jack Kost.
2025.

Photograph:

Night Light (2023), by Jack Kost.

Sound effect credit:

Wind Gusts Late Autumn

by freesound_community
from Pixabay.

The Last Word of a Bluebird, poem by Robert Frost:

The Last Word of a Bluebird

Poem by Robert Frost.

As I went out a Crow
In a low voice said, “Oh,
I was looking for you.
How do you do?
I just came to tell you
To tell Lesley (will you?)
That her little Bluebird
Wanted me to bring word
That the north wind last night
That made the stars bright
And made ice on the trough
Almost made him cough
His tail feathers off.
He just had to fly!
But he sent her Good-by,
And said to be good,
And wear her red hood,
And look for skunk tracks
In the snow with an ax –
And do everything!
And perhaps in the spring
He would come back and sing.”

Recommended reading:

Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays

Video by Jack Kost
2025

Music credit:

Cold October – Soft Piano Music
By Clavier-Music
From Pixabay

Inspirational quotes on nature – video 2:

Inspirational quotes on nature – video 2:

At some point in life, the world's beauty becomes enough.
– Toni Morrison.

Water is the driving force of all nature.
– Leonardo da Vinci.

Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.
– Charlotte Bronte.

Look deep into nature,
and then you will understand everything better.
– Albert Einstein.

I have found, through years of practice,
that people garden in order to make something grow;
to interact with nature; to share, to find sanctuary,
to heal, to honor the earth, to leave a mark.
Through gardening,
we feel whole as we make our personal work of art upon our land.
– Julie Moir Messervy.

It is in the wild places,
where the edge of the earth meets the corners of the sky,
the human spirit is fed.
– Art Wolfe.

Nature's music is never over;
her silences are pauses,
not conclusions.
– Mary Webb.

Come forth into the light of things,
let nature be your teacher.
– William Wordsworth.

There is nothing in the world more peaceful
than apple–leaves with an early moon.
– Alice Meynell.

You must not know too much or be too precise or scientific
about birds and trees and flowers and watercraft;
a certain free-margin, or even vagueness – ignorance, credulity –
helps your enjoyment of these things.
– Walt Whitman.

Those who dwell,
as scientists or laymen,
among the beauties and mysteries of the earth
are never alone or weary of life.
Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives,
their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment
and to renewed excitement in living.
– Rachel Carson.

Make a positive difference.
Conserve nature.
Conserve our world.
Before it’s too late.

April 22 is Earth Day.
Make every day … Earth Day.

Photographs by Jack Kost.
Video by Jack Kost
2025

Music credit:
Birds
By freesound_community
From Pixabay.

Inspirational quotes on nature – video 1:

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

– Audrey Hepburn.

To cultivate a garden is to walk with God.

– Christian Nestell Bovee.

The dandelion's pallid tube

Astonishes the grass,

And winter instantly becomes

An infinite alas.

– Emily Dickinson.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God.

Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.

As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.

And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.

– Anne Frank.

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations.

– Washington Irving.

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.

– Frank Lloyd Wright.

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

– Aristotle.

The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.

– Wendell Berry.

Earth laughs in flowers.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson.

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence ... We need silence to be able to touch souls.

– Mother Teresa.

Make a positive difference.

Conserve nature.

Conserve our world.

Before it’s too late.

April 22 is Earth Day.

Make every day … Earth Day.

Photographs by Jack Kost.

Video by Jack Kost

2025

Music credit:

Birds

By freesound_community

From Pixabay.

The Praying Mantis, poem by Ogden Nash:

The Praying Mantis

Poem by Ogden Nash.

From whence arrived the praying mantis?
From outer space, or lost Atlantis?
glimpse the grin, green metal mug
at masks the pseudo-saintly bug,
Orthopterous, also carnivorous,
And faintly whisper, Lord deliver us.

Recommended reading:

The Best of Ogden Nash
548 Favorite Poems from America's Laureate of Light Verse

Video by Jack Kost.
2025.

Praying Mantis (2019)
photographs by Jack Kost.

Sound effect credit:

Sounds of Summer

by freesound_community
from Pixabay.

Dogwood Blossoms, poem by George Marion McClellan:

Dogwood Blossoms

Poem by George Marion McClellan.

To dreamy languors and the violet mist
Of early Spring, the deep sequestered vale
Gives first her paling-blue Miamimist,
Where blithely pours the cuckoo’s annual tale
Of Summer promises and tender green,
Of a new life and beauty yet unseen.
The forest trees have yet a sighing mouth,
Where dying winds of March their branches swing,
While upward from the dreamy, sunny South,
A hand invisible leads on the Spring.
His rounds from bloom to bloom the bee begins
With flying song, and cowslip wine he sups,
Where to the warm and passing southern winds,
Azaleas gently swing their yellow cups.
Soon everywhere, with glory through and through,
The fields will spread with every brilliant hue.
But high o’er all the early floral train,
Where softness all the arching sky resumes,
The dogwood dancing to the winds’ refrain,
In stainless glory spreads its snowy blooms.

Recommended reading:

Poems by George Marion McClellan.

Video by Jack Kost.
2025.

Dogwood Blossom photographs by Jack Kost.

Sound effect credit:

Forest wind and birds

by freesound_community

from Pixabay.