Barnacles are interesting creatures.

Distantly related to crabs and lobsters because of their arthropod (jointed limb) classification, they live in shallow waters.



Barnacles feed using a filtering system to draw in plankton. It’s the same type of system used by baleen whales. The difference is that barnacles use their feathery leg-like appendages to vibrate the surrounding water which draws in the plankton whereas baleen whales feed by swimming with their mouths open allowing their baleen plates (a thick fingernail like substance) to trap plankton.

Some cultures eat certain barnacles, others scorn them for their destructive nature especially on boats and other marine structures.

Unlike other barnacles which use a stalk to hold on, Rock acorn barnacles grow their shells directly onto a surface, usually on rocks in the inter-tidal zone. They cement themselves permanently to hard surfaces. They hold fast.

I found the Rock barnacle in this photo, empty of its inhabitant, on the beach and it got me to thinking about the concept of holding fast. Langston Hughes (1902-1967) wrote the following poem:  

DREAMS
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
By Langston Hughes

For many years I held onto the dream that I would live full time in a tropical climate, where everyday felt like summer, where vegetation remained green and flowers bloomed all throughout the year, where the overnight low temperatures did not regularly fall below 60 degrees, where I could walk barefoot in the fall and winter months, and where the sun shone just about everyday.

I kept the Hughes poem tacked to the edge of my computer screen so I could read it throughout the long journey. One day, after I had come to realize that hope and dreams and faith and love are all interconnected, I broke down those components into something more manageable, something onto which I could hold fast. The verse below is nothing more than my original notes, the process of deduction in raw form. But it works.


DREAMS, HOPE, AND LOVE
Dreams come true when hope is nurtured.
Hope stems from accomplishments.
Accomplishments are born from faith.
Faith is directly related to achievements.
Achievements arise from realized potential.
Potential realized = awareness of greatness.
Greatness starts with an idea encouraged.
Encouragement comes from love.
Love lives in the heart of realized dreams.
Copyright 2008 Diana Taylor, Pug At The Beach


Through these two pieces, the tangled branches of pessimism give way to the hope of dreams come true. Once hope is on board, all dreams are possible. When dreams become reality people can change the world.

My wish for you is that you hold fast to your own dreams until you bring them to fruition changing your world for the better which will change the world as a whole.

<*(((><

Copyright 2008 Diana Taylor, Pug At The Beach
Photo credit: Diana Taylor, Rock acorn barnacle, Delray Beach, Florida


For cut & paste:

www.americanpoems.com/poets/Langston-Hughes (bio of Langston Hughes)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0679764089?tag=poetsorg-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=
as1&creativeASIN=0679764089&adid=0M74C3VX5P9YR2N3MK52& (Langston Hughes on Amazon.com)

http://www.PugAtTheBeach.com (For more dreams, hope and love)

The Langston Hughes poem is published on this site with good intentions for the purpose of informing and educating. If asked by legal representation of the Hughes estate, we will remove this poem immediately.

All material published here by Diana Taylor is also for the purpose of educating individuals. Reasonable use of said material is accepted. Should you have a need to reprint this material for profit distribution, please contact us first for permission.