Dragonfly On A Needle

Today I went to see the "needle" (actually an iconic sculpture symbolic of the future of Goyang, the Seoul suburb I live in;  I've posted it before).  I took a shot,

then I noticed something -- something at the very tip of the monument that looked like a tassel or a bit of fuzz or anyway some piece of shmutz that wasn't supposed to be there.  I looked hard, but it was so small and indistinct (presbyopia setting in, sigh...) and I was unable to make it out against the backdrop of the bright sky.  Then I got the bright (ha!) idea to check it out with the phone camera at maximum zoom, and...

it was a dragonfly!

I took a couple more shots, then I went over to sit on a bench in the shade and take a break while I checked out the day's photos.  After several minutes I went back to the monument to see if the dragonfly was still there, but it had gone away.  Ah well, I thought.  Then, just as I was about to turn back, I saw it coming back,

to take up its commanding post at the tip of the needle again!

Lunar New Year's Eve, 2025

 

[Shot was taken back in the summer, of course]

A Virtual Obelisk

A monument that is half shade, half shadow.

A cenotaph to *Ozymandias, perhaps.

*THE REFERENCE IS TO THE POEM "OZYMANDIAS",  ABOUT THE EPHEMERALITY OF POWER AND HUBRIS, BY THE ENGLISH POET PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.  IT TELLS OF THE DISCOVERY OF A GIGANTIC RUIN IN A DESERT, PURPORTEDLY A HEROIC PORTRAIT OF AN ANCIENT RULER BY THAT NAME, NOW FORGOTTEN.  THE MOST FAMOUS LINE FROM THE POEM IS "LOOK ON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR!".