Photo LinkLove

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. ~George Eliot

An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language. ~Martin Buber

To insult someone we call him “bestial.” For deliberate cruelty and nature, “human” might be the greater insult. ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true. ~Robert Wilensky, 1996

We’re animals. We’re born like every other mammal and we live our whole lives around disguised animal thoughts. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Culture is roughly anything we do and the monkeys don’t. ~Lord Raglan

This place

Is for dead grass

Not my blood

And racing heart.

I will eat

Until it is gone

And once again

Fly before the lion as I pray before the sun.

*

*

*

*

I have seen

The night sky

when it entertained the gods.

And fires racing on the plain

Mothers crying for their own

And dark brown sheets of rain.

I see it now

And always will

Until I weep

Upon a hill

For you who know not

How it feels

To run in moonlight

And be killed.

When I was a very small child I used to have this nightmare about alligators. They would show up in my bedroom window about three am and smile at me. So when I saw this alligator heading my way awhile back with a big smile on his face I told Beth we needed to call room service later for a couple of sheets of plywood. I had a few ideas about alligator crafts.

She just looked at me with one of those adorable expressions that signal it’s time to change the subject. But there is just something so primordial about this animal. He just makes the hair stand up on my neck while the rest of me is not satisfied with standing and insists on running away. Beth’s parents have a place in Florida and when we go for walks through the neighborhood there’s always a couple of gators watching from just a few feet away. And nobody asks them to leave unless they become irritated and eat something larger than a football.

So today we are going to move away from pictures of cute little birds and focus on animals that would like to have us for dinner. But let’s be fair. They were here millions of years before the cavemen arrived. If they want to follow me around that’s fine. But they are going to have to get in line behind my insurance agent. And after ten pm all bets are off.