7.26.2014
wings large and splendid
...Thoreau's Journal: 26-July-1852
Went to Cambridge and Boston to-day. Dr. Harris says that my great moth is the Attacus luna; may be regarded as one of several emperor moths. They are rarely seen, being very liable to be snapped up by birds. Once, as he was crossing the College Yard, he saw the wings of one coming down, which reached the ground just at his feet. What a tragedy! The wings came down as the only evidence that such a creature had soared,—wings large and splendid, which were designed to bear a precious burthen through the upper air. So most poems, even epics, are like the wings come down to earth, while the poet whose adventurous flight they evidence has been snapped up [by] the ravenous vultures of this world.
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in my youth i worked as a chef for a northern resort,i remember the staff having an outside wooden toilet with one light bulb,on my first nightly visit i was greeted by five large moths on the wall, each bigger then my hand and only two the same,they cared not that i was there as if they had met at the light bulb!, i studied them later and have only seen two since!?,we have a multitude of seldom seen moths here!, it was the size that i could not believe!. michael jameson oldantiqueguy@hotmail.com
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