numbed

China - Disaster - Earthquake in Sichuan Province - Aftermath
A woman cries by the coffin of a relative killed in the earthquake in Pengzhou. The official death toll from the quake is now 14,866 and at least 18,600 are still buried in rubbles across counties.

China - Disaster - Earthquake in Sichuan province

Firemen pull out a buried student from the building ruins, at Beichuan County, about 160 kilometers northeast of the epicenter, southwest China's Sichuan Province. Rescuers consisting of firemen, armed police, PLA soldiers and medical staffers were searching frantically for survivors in the rubble. At least 1,000 students and teachers were buried when the school in the county collapsed in the quake, and rows of apartment blocks in the town collapsed.

Myanmar - Disaster - Tropical Cyclone Nargis Aftermath

A man holds his dead baby, killed in Cyclone Nargis in Bogalay, one of the hardest hit regions in Myanmar. The Nargis cyclone which hit the country claimed 22,997 lives, left 42,119 missing and 1,403 injured as other sources claim the real death toll is closer to 100,000.

Myanmar - Disaster - Tropical Cyclone Nargis
Children drink powdered milk donated locally to Myanmar Red Cross in Myanmar cyclone hit areas. More than a week after cyclone Nargis struck, hundreds of thousands are still without access to food, water and medicine, threatening a health catastrophe that could increase the death toll 15-fold, aid agencies have warned.

text and images courtesy of corbis.com

in the bleak midwinter

it was autumn this time, last year, in melbourne. but i was already preparing for winter, the final season that would usher my journey home. i was preparing to receive my family and friends who would soon drop by, to help me name these seasons, birthed long ago, in my life.

autumn. winter. a rich kinship between seasons. imprints to life. one marks the fall of leaves; an age old call about mortality, surrender and letting go. and how the remembrance of such a prayer is worth its weight in gold. the other's inner life is best expresssed in a poem written by christina rossetti (1830-1894) adapted into song by corrinne may- on finding jesus amid the fall of winter's snow....i noticed the cars that whizzed by as she sang. it must have been chilly outside. the movements. the throng. the certain loneliness one feels when intermitten crowds stood by the sidewalks. still, she sat inside this cafe. recalled this christmas prayer. and God annoits her simple song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC9C5kHL884&feature=related

In The Bleak Midwinter

by Corrinne May

In the bleak midwinter...

frost wind made moan,

snow had fallen, snow

on snow, snow on snow,

in the bleak midwinter,

long ago.

wo