Just once in a while, at the end of some dreich, grey winter’s day in the wild West Highlands of Scotland, the sun emerges briefly from the cloud, low on the horizon, and bathes the world in golden light for a few short moments, before it sinks down deep into the cold, dark sea.

On such an afternoon, Algy flew out to the rocks and perched in the sunlight for as long as it lasted, watching the golden light playing on the sea and the seabirds silhouetted against the glowing sky on the rocks further out in the bay. It reminded him of a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

The subtle beauty of this day
Hangs o’er me like a fairy spell,
And care and grief have flown away,
And every breeze sings, “all is well.”
I ask, “Holds earth or sin, or woe?”
My heart replies, “I do not know.”

Nay! all we know, or feel, my heart,
Today is joy undimmed, complete;
In tears or pain we have no part;
The act of breathing is so sweet,
We care no higher joy to name.
What reck we now of wealth or fame?

The past – what matters it to me?
The pain it gave has passed away.
The future – that I cannot see!
I care for nothing save today –
This is a respite from all care,
And trouble flies -I know not where.

Go on, oh noisy, restless life!
Pass by, oh, feet that seek for heights!
I have no part in aught of strife;
I do not want your vain delights.
The day wraps round me like a spell
And every breeze sings, “All is well.”

Algy hopes that from time to time you will all experience some moments of golden light, and the respite from all care that it brings 🙂

[Algy is quoting the poem A Golden Day by the 19th century American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox.]

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