There was a peacock by the side of the road, a simple country road where you might see scavenging chickens or crows, a winding traveler’s road unless it was as far as you needed to go. He lifted his feet and nodded his head but didn’t look back as we passed him by. Peacocks belonged to certain times and places, posing and parading where they were transplanted, ogling and ignoring spectators waiting and waiting for what they thought was coming. Peacocks were known to tease with their tales…oops…tails trailing behind them, not needing all eyes on theirs to court attention. Where was the sweeping lawn or gilded courtyard for this one? He had the iridescent train, noble crest, confident step, and—as my distant experience heard—commanding cry of a greater bird than appeared out of nowhere. When we saw him on the run, more from our confusion than his own, he brought a little magic but also mutiny to our day.
Image courtesy of Google
Author’s note: I begin a new series on my blog–writing inspired by my observations of flora and fauna. (My goal is to post one every week in addition to any other posts I make. Goals, like rules, are for breaking.)
I welcome others to share their nature insights too.
©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.
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Lovely poem, Peacocks do evoke a sense of times past and peace. I like your line “a winding traveler’s road unless it was as far as you needed to go. ”
Martin
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Thank you for reading and you kind comment. Yes, it was a strange thing to see a peacock just sauntering on his way as we drove home that afternoon. Just one of those small moments that surprise and inspire.
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Beautiful writing. I can close my eyes and picture the peacock and the winding country road on a hot summer day. Your writing is so descriptive that I immediately visualize what I’m reading – and I love that! I look forward to your next post!
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Thanks so much, MaryEllen. I so appreciate your interest and generous comments and support! Hope you can catch up on some of the other posts I made since this one.
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I like your idea of a series on nature. And it’s always cool to see a peacock–they are just amazing birds. I’ve had encounters with peacocks since I was a child–they seem to show up in my life now and then.
Thanks for sharing your story with me.
P.S. I received a note from WordPress saying that they were retiring our theme and had a new one as a replacement called “Dusk to Dawn”. I changed over and do like it too. I wondered if you had received that note too?
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Thanks for reading!
I have always been interested in animal totems, which obviously the peacock is for you.
I found this online (I’m sure there’s much more about Peacock symbolism) from http://www.cathyginter.com/TOTEM.html:
“Peacock: Fully aware of his own beauty, peacock signifies a new opportunity for spiritual growth and healing. Peacock’s gifts bring confidence, stature and accomplishment to the dreamer. Peacock’s feathers are ringed with eyes that contain the medicine of foresight and clairvoyance. On the surface, peacock spirit is boastful energy. The lesson is to watch our pride and beware of the ego. Thus, Peacock medicine is our ability to be noble, yet humble.”
Yes, I saw the new theme Dusk to Dawn. I did check and read that the Dusk theme will remain active for those already using it. I like it’s look but it does have limitations, I believe the new theme offering more customization.
I’m still deliberating on whether to make the change…when I previewed it looked like the alignment of images on past posts were messed up. Did it take much fixing once you changed?
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You’re welcome.
I’m interested in animal totems too and take note when animals or birds show up around me. This was very interesting to read about the peacock–it makes perfect sense to me about being noble while retaining humility. I really like that.
When I saw WordPresses’ note, they didn’t mention that I would be able to retain the theme so I switched but I’m happy with the new one. There was nothing I had to fix or arrange after I changed to the new theme. I just noticed that something I had written on my email and copied to my blog had gone “outside the lines.” But I think it was like that before… Everything else, including photos, look fine–as far as I can tell.
I appreciate you sharing with me–thanks so much.
Gayle
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