While Algy was on holiday in July, he spent a happy time among the aromatic bog myrtle of the peat bogs, lazily watching the cotton grass blowing gently in the wind. As he reclined there in the sunshine, he thought of one of his oldest friends, who – as it happens – celebrates her 86th birthday today, and for her sake he recited one of her favourite poems:

         There is no dusk to be,
             There is no dawn that was,
          Only there’s now, and now,
             And the wind in the  grass.

          Days I remember of
             Now in my heart, are now;
          Days that I dream will bloom
             White peach bough.

Algy sends lots of very special fluffy birthday hugs and kisses to his old friend today xoxoxoxo

[Algy is quoting the first two verses of the poem An Eternity by the American 20th century Modernist poet and Librarian of Congress, Archibald MacLeish.]

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Algy took cover in the thick Marram grass on the top of the sand dunes, and gazed out across the pale sand. There was a strange light today and, despite the wind, the sea was very quiet, with an odd pallid shimmer that perhaps suggested a storm to come. As always, the wind blew constantly through the tall grasses, with a swishing, rustling motion all around him. Its perpetual, insistent whispering reminded Algy of a poem:

         There is no dusk to be,
             There is no dawn that was,
          Only there’s now, and now,
             And the wind in the  grass.

          Days I remember of
             Now in my heart, are now;
          Days that I dream will bloom
             White peach bough.

          Dying shall never be
             Now in the windy grass;
          Now under shooken leaves
             Death never was.

[Algy is quoting the poem An Eternity by the American 20th century Modernist poet and Librarian of Congress, Archibald MacLeish.]