Abandoned – The kind that makes your eyes glimmer

“He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones “it’s” rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,
dies slowly.” – Pablo Neruda

The champagne flute in this series of photographs was lying half-buried in the overgrown grass and warm earth of a field. It had been carelessly tossed aside after its user had had their fun. It was abandoned in a moment of wild abandon.

The field in which I found it is one that is regularly abandoned to nature. Every couple of years it is harvested for hay. The rest of the time it is the living playground to deer, rabbits, foxes, stoats, mice, rats, birds, butterflies, crickets, wild flowers and plants, and so much more.

I love to roam in this wilderness searching for treasure, often in the form of things which someone else considers garbage, which have been discarded and blown hither and thither by wanton winds, and have eventually settled in nature’s embrace, a place which welcomes the unwanted and gives it a new home.

Sometimes I leave the treasures which I find exactly where they are as they seem so happy and at peace there, and I do not want to disturb the uninhibited beauty of it, but occasionally I steal them away from Mother Nature’s grasp, she doesn’t seem to mind as long as I am respectful and remember that I owe her one, or two, or three…

I unearthed the flute and was surprised that it was still completely intact. And as I wiped away the dirt, admiring the shape and shine of the glass, it whispered to me – I am empty, my purpose is to be filled with bubbling liquid gold until I overflow…

“Let’s try and avoid death in small doses,
reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead
to the attainment of a splendid happiness.” – Pablo Neruda