Lava pool

 

" Stromboli seldom disappoints"

Temple of Concordia

 

ok

Temple of Concordia watercolour sketch on paper- George Roberts, September 2026

"Soundly sleeps our fallen hero 

Let him take his rest

Awaiting for a call to arms

And another Herculean quest".

Stromboli in serious moonlight.

 

Stromboli explosions under a Harvest Moon.

Hephaestus is still forging Hellenic bronze

Creating caldera flames in an autumnal sky 

The Moon rising full above the waves

In memorial salute for gladiators long ago about to die.

We watch dolphins chase amberjack in and out the blue water 

Did Argonauts or Odysseus once row in these warm waves?

In pursuit of a golden fleece or lost on the way home to Penelope.

Did Plato chase reality's shadows in lava bright volcanic caves?

One flight away are home, friends and family.

But further away still are planets, stars and moon.

Sagittarius the horseman and Scorpius with bright red Antares.

Each will roll and dip in turn below our horizon soon

It seems to us on our fast moving boat

That tonight all times, present and past

Have come together in the moonlight 

Under just one mast.

George Roberts - 'Cheerful doggerel'  September 2026.

The Harvest Moon

 

The Harvest Moon shone bright on our trip back from Stromboli. What a beautiful island Sicily is!

Sicilian Sketch

 

Piazza Armerina watercolor on paper. George Roberts  September 2026

.

Concordia 

Temples all Greek to me

A very fine start to the day

An almost intact set of Doric pillars 

As Vitruvius might say

A fine lunch of mixed fried fish

Was the pescetarian pick of the day

Went down well with a glass of wine

As Carluccio might say.

Then off to a Romano Unesco site

By bus in the middle of the day

To view mosaics of animals from Africa

As Scipio might say

Finally all humid and hot

We dozed and ended the day

With one last 'photo opp' at Piazza Armerina

As our tour guide Renata might say.

George Roberts words to accompany a shaky painting. September 2026 

The Architecture of the Brain

The Cosmos appears to be enormous and without boundaries however you look at it!

 

Mountains do not appear to be particularly high when viewed from far above!

The Architect of the Universe 

The brain has a hundred billion neurons

Equal to the number of stars in the Milky Way

Each neuron has thousands of connections 

One hundred trillion links simultaneously at play

If we were to ride one neural electrical impulse

What patterns of thought might we witness or see

A childhood memory, an equation solved, a kiss.

What makes you you and what makes me me.

In slumber do neurons slow and cease to fire

Are the patterns of night thoughts truly our own

Is the architecture of ideas founded by demons?

Divided by two hemispheres and clasped by bone

There are many hills in the neural landscape

Many valleys and convolutions to increase capacity 

Equivalent to twenty million books in every head

Enabling civilization and sentient elasticity.

But where are morality and love located?

And why do some thoughts go to the dark side?

Is the human brain so quick to anger or otherwise?

Does a neuron address fear, severe links or hide?

What should be made of artificial intelligence?

A threat, an opportunity, a loss or a gain?

Will we  rue the day of the multidimensional tensor

Will we be washed away like tears in the rain?

 

Is the brain a unique gift from the Universe?

Selected by aeons of evolutionary force 

Have we finally reached a sentient golden age?

Or has humanity run its intellectual course?

More bleak doggerel by George Roberts September 2026

The Saxon King - Southend on Sea

 

Fantastic street art!  Fifty minutes by train from  central London..