The Snail

Morning Snail Macro, originally uploaded by Gothenburg Observer.

On my way in to school the last week I have noticed the garden snails on the pavement and bicycle paths, and been charmed. On Thursday, I took the camera with me and tried out the macro. Of course, on this one day of the week the sun was shining brightly and it had been a cold night, so mostly the snails seemed to have gone into hiding. I did find this one, though, making its way across the bicycle path, oblivious to danger. I watched it and took some pictures and maybe saved it from being crushed, that morning at least.

My biology teacher colleagues were not impressed by these photos, but did regard my having taken them at all as a sign of my coming over to the natural sciences from the pointless arts.

Well, if it makes some people happy ...

The snail made me think of Bunyan's poem.

The Snail

She goes but softly, but she goeth sure,
She stumbles not, as stronger creatures do.
Her journey's shorter, so she may endure
Better than they which do much farther go.
She makes no noise, but stilly seizeth on
The flower or herb appointed for her food,
The which she quietly doth feed upon
While others range and glare, but find no good.
And though she doth but very softly go,
However, 'tis not fast nor slow, but sure;
And certainly they that do travel so,
The prize they do aim at they do procure.

That's the poem as I remembered it. Of course, this is Bunyan here, the author of Pilgrims Progress, so I shouldn't have been so surprised to find that the above - the bit that gets anthologised - is only half the poem. The rest goes like this:

Comparison.
Although they seem not much to stir, less go,
For Christ that hunger, or from wrath that flee,
Yet what they seek for quickly they come to,
Though it doth seem the farthest off to be.
One act of faith doth bring them to that flower
They so long for, that they may eat and live,
Which, to attain, is not in others power,
Though for it a king's ransom they would give.
Then let none faint, nor be at all dismayed
That life by Christ do seek, they shall not fail
To have it; let them nothing be afraid;
The herb and flower are eaten by the snail.

The sun through dew
On the same morning, I took this picture of the sun through the heavy dew on the grass by the side of my way. I tried to take it as closely into the sun as possible, to get the sparkle. I thought it looked pretty.

Morning Dew on Grass, originally uploaded by Gothenburg Observer.