Fire and Ice

 Some say the world will end in fire,

 Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire,
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
           - Robert Frost

It would be presumptuous to think I could improve on Frost's poem by accompanying it with photos, so that is not my intention.  Instead, it is an illustration of how natural phenomena influence people in different ways.  Frost's poem consists of 52 words, yet many essays of 1000 or more have been written about it.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I've topped that with the three photos above.  There are different theories about what inspired Frost's poem.  Some say he was influenced mainly by Dante's Inferno.  There's also a story of an astronomer who chatted with Frost about how the world might end from the point-of-view of astronomy - as it was around 1920 - and I haven't discovered whether Frost ever answered a direct question on the subject. 
I must admit I am in awe of Robert Frost.  He was obviously greatly inspired by nature, as I am, but his achievement in poetry is unimaginable to me.  He began his writing in San Francisco but eventually was identified as a New England poet, perhaps The New England Poet.  I was born in New England, met Frost when i was in college in New England, then I moved West.  I've spent lots of time on the coastal bluffs of Mendocino County contemplating Frost's Once by the Pacific.  I can't imagine moving in the opposite direction and becoming a New Englander again.  Well, I can imagine it, but that's all.  My youngest son, the scientist, loves dandelions and fire and ice.  The top photo portrays one of his ways of appreciating dandelions, as does the bottom one.  I can't remember why I put the ice cubes on the rail over my back deck (middle photo) but somehow today these three images came together in my early-morning imagination and re-connected me to one of my favorite Robert Frost poems.  Maybe it's the change in seasons.  I saw frost on neighborhood lawns for the first time yesterday.  Yet, it got hot by afternoon.  Sometimes the onset of fall stirs thoughts of the end of the world, but then spring comes - at least so far.