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Tuesday 1 March 2016

From the Homeric Hymns

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A voter completes a ballot in the town clerk’s office in Ripton, Vt., on Super Tuesday, the day presidential primary votes are cast in 12 states: photo by Hilary Swift for The New York Times, 1 March 2016

When resting weary limbs at last on beds of Asphodel
great Ajax strove some vast rock's weight to throw
the oryx bolted and the yuge winged storks arose
............................above the boatyard forest
to dip their pinions in the painted bow
again; -- and thrice she looked back, and twice the foe drew near...
in doubt to deem himself a god, or beast. 

And all withdrew. All withdrew long since, and the land was barren
............................the women who had been outcast
remained fruitless, and the thin music continued
when winds were assuaged at sunset
yet the second temple was not like the first.

First, in the desert. Then...
A port. A little town. No, a little larger town...
A forest of tall sails and masts. Birds wheeling, in the ebb
...................................of twilight
ghosts of outcast women returning lamenting,
.....................purged not in Lethe. 



Arabian oryx, an antelope native to the Arabian desert, roam a sanctuary in Umm Al-Zamool, in Abu Dhabi, near the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia: photo by Karim Sahib/Agence France-Presse, 1 March 2016


Arabian oryx, an antelope native to the Arabian desert, roam a sanctuary in Umm Al-Zamool, in Abu Dhabi, near the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia: photo by Karim Sahib/Agence France-Presse, 1 March 2016



A woman sunbathes in St. Petersburg, Russia, near the wall of the Peter and Paul Fortress built for Peter the Great: photo by Olga Maltseva/Agence France-Presse, 1 March 2016



Two women sunbathe in St. Petersburg, Russia, near the wall of the Peter and Paul Fortress built for Peter the Great: photo by Olga Maltseva/Agence France-Presse, 1 March 2016


Two Cubans walk through their neighborhood in Havana after a fumigation truck moved through. Cuba fumigates regularly to kill disease-carrying mosquitoes.: photo by Enrique De La Osa/Reuters, 1 March 2016


Iranian schoolgirls watch lawmakers debate in Parliament in Tehran, days after voters added more moderates and reformists to the governing body: photo by Vahid Salemi/Associated Press, 1 March 2016


Iranian schoolgirls watch lawmakers debate in Parliament in Tehran, days after voters added more moderates and reformists to the governing body: photo by Vahid Salemi/Associated Press, 1 March 2016


Migrants, mainly from Syria, at an overcrowded camp near Idomeni, Greece. Macedonia allows 580 Syrians to enter a day, but 9,000 remain stranded in Greece.: photo by Dan Kitwood/ The New York Times, 1 March 2016


Migrants, mainly from Syria, at an overcrowded camp near Idomeni, Greece. Macedonia allows 580 Syrians to enter a day, but 9,000 remain stranded in Greece.: photo by Dan Kitwood/ The New York Times, 1 March 2016



A migrant sits on his makeshift shelter as police officers clear refugees from part of a camp known as the “jungle” in Calais, France: photo by Yoan Valat/European Pressphoto Agency, 1 March 2016



A migrant sits on his makeshift shelter as police officers clear refugees from part of a camp known as the “jungle” in Calais, France: photo by Yoan Valat/European Pressphoto Agency, 1 March 2016

TOPSHOT - A sand gazelle is seen at the ...TOPSHOT - A sand gazelle is seen at the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Umm Al-Zamool, some 290 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi near the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia, on March 1, 2016.  The sanctuary which is reserve for many different animals stretches over an estimated area of 8,900 square kilometres and currently hosts nearly 155 Arabian Oryx, which were reintroduced into the its natural habitat in the UAE in a five-year conservation plan launched by UAE's late ruler Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, after fears of their extinction. / AFP / KARIM SAHIBKARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images
A sand gazelle is seen at the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Umm Al-Zamool, some 290 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi near the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia: photo by Karim Sahib/AFP, 1 March 2016

TOPSHOT - A sand gazelle is seen at the ...TOPSHOT - A sand gazelle is seen at the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Umm Al-Zamool, some 290 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi near the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia, on March 1, 2016.  The sanctuary which is reserve for many different animals stretches over an estimated area of 8,900 square kilometres and currently hosts nearly 155 Arabian Oryx, which were reintroduced into the its natural habitat in the UAE in a five-year conservation plan launched by UAE's late ruler Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, after fears of their extinction. / AFP / KARIM SAHIBKARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images

A sand gazelle is seen at the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Umm Al-Zamool, some 290 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi near the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia: photo by Karim Sahib/AFP, 1 March 2016


Voters cast ballots at a polling station for Massachusetts’ primary election, as Super Tuesday starts in North Andover, Mass: photo by Elise Amendola/AP, 1 March 2016

A woman shelters under an umbrella under heavy rain and strong wind in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A woman shelters under an umbrella during heavy rain and strong wind in Rio de Janeiro: photo by Christophe Simon/AFP 1 March 2016

TOPSHOT - An Indian girl (C) studies by ...TOPSHOT - An Indian girl (C) studies by candle light in a slum area without electric power in Phillaur, around 50 km from Jalandhar, on February 29, 2016. India's government will work to ensure all the country's villages have electricity within two years, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, as he presented the annual budget on February 29.  AFP PHOTO / SHAMMI MEHRA / AFP / SHAMMI MEHRASHAMMI MEHRA/AFP/Getty Images

An Indian girl studies by candle light in a slum area without electric power in Phillaur, around 50 km from Jalandhar. India’s government will work to ensure all the country’s villages have electricity within two years, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, as he presented the annual budget on Monday.: photo by Shammi Mehra/AFP, 1 March 2016

Members of the Ukrainian volunteer batta...Members of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion Azov hold flares during a protest outside the Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) prison in Kiev on March 1, 2016. The protesters are demanding the release of Stanislav Krasnov, head of the nationalist organisation "Azov-Crimea", who is accused of spying for Russia. / AFP / ANATOLII STEPANOVANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP/Getty Images

Members of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion Azov hold flares during a protest outside the Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) prison in Kiev. The protesters are demanding the release of Stanislav Krasnov, head of the nationalist organisation “Azov-Crimea”, who is accused of spying for Russia.: photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP, 1 March 2016
 
Members of the Ukrainian volunteer batta...Members of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion Azov hold flares during a protest outside the Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) prison in Kiev on March 1, 2016. The protesters are demanding the release of Stanislav Krasnov, head of the nationalist organisation "Azov-Crimea", who is accused of spying for Russia. / AFP / ANATOLII STEPANOVANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP/Getty Images

Members of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion Azov hold flares during a protest outside the Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) prison in Kiev. The protesters are demanding the release of Stanislav Krasnov, head of the nationalist organisation “Azov-Crimea”, who is accused of spying for Russia.: photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP, 1 March 2016

A Peshmerga fighter from Iraq takes part in a training session of the German army Bundeswehr in Munster near Hannover, Germany

A Peshmerga fighter from Iraq takes part in a training session of the German army (Bundeswehr) in Munster near Hannover, Germany: photo by Michael Sohn/AP, 1 March 2016

A Peshmerga fighter from Iraq takes part in a training session of the German army Bundeswehr in Munster near Hannover, Germany

A Peshmerga fighter from Iraq takes part in a training session of the German army (Bundeswehr) in Munster near Hannover, Germany: photo by Michael Sohn/AP, 1 March 2016

 
Iranian school girls attend a parliament session in Tehran: photo by Atta Kenare/AFP, 1 March 2016


Iranian school girls attend a parliament session in Tehran: photo by Atta Kenare/AFP, 1 March 2016

Activists dressed as South Korean dissid...Activists dressed as South Korean dissidents perform during an anti-Japan protest marking the 97th Independence Movement Day in Seoul on March 1, 2016. South Korea was marking the anniversary of the country's 1919 uprising against the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule. AFP PHOTO / Ed JonesED JONES/AFP/Getty Images

Activists dressed as South Korean dissidents perform during an anti-Japan protest marking the 97th Independence Movement Day in Seoul. South Korea was marking the anniversary of the country’s 1919 uprising against the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule.: photo by Ed Jones/AFP, 1 March 2016

Hillary Clinton...Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acknowledges the crowd as she arrives to speak at a "Get Out The Vote" campaign rally in Norfolk, S.C., Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acknowledges the crowd as she arrives to speak at a “Get Out The Vote” campaign rally in Norfolk, Virginia
: photo by
Gerald Herbert/AP, 1 March 2016

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