Return…

Algy had been away on a long, sad journey through the depths of the most dismal winter he had known, but as the year turned once more, and the sun started to rise higher in the sky each day, he gradually made his way back home. And there he found his little black teddy bear, waiting patiently to show him the first beautiful crocuses of the new spring…

Algy sat himself down on the damp ground and gazed at the lovely flowers, while he inhaled their sweet fragrance of saffron. Although the temperature was only just above freezing, the sun warmed his feathers until at last he began to feel quite fluffy again. He looked happily at his little black teddy, and then started to recite this poem:

Down in my solitude under the snow,
Where nothing cheering can reach me;
Here, without light to see how to grow,
I’ll trust to nature to teach me.

I will not despair, nor be idle, nor frown,
Locked in so gloomy a dwelling;
My leaves shall run up, and my roots shall run down,
While the bud in my bosom is swelling.

Soon as the frost will get out of my bed,
From this cold dungeon to free me,
I will peer up with my little bright head;
All will be joyful to see me.

Then from my heart will young petals diverge,
As rays of the sun from their focus;
I from the darkness of earth will emerge
A happy and beautiful Crocus!

Gaily arrayed in my yellow and green,
When to their view I have risen,
Will they not wonder how one so serene
Came from so dismal a prison?

Many, perhaps, from so simple a flower
This little lesson may borrow—
Patient to-day, through its gloomiest hour,
We come out the brighter to-morrow!

[Algy is reciting the poem The Crocus’s Soliloquy by the early 19th century American poet Hannah Flag Gould.]

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Algy got a wonderful surprise when the postbird passed by today – a gorgeous postcard had flown all the way from Salzburg, just for him! It had come from his very kind friends bk-fundstuecke and hedminreg – and the little pink pony 🙂 Algy immediately fetched the little black teddy who knew those friends so well, and together they perched in the hydrangea bush and read all about Salzburg. Algy would love to visit that beautiful city himself one day!

Algy sends lots and lots of extra fluffy hugs to his very kind and thoughtful friends, and says “Thank you very much indeed! It was so sweet of you to think of me, you really made my day.” xoxoxo

The mist blew away again, and the sun was shining once more. Algy took his wee friend from Germany, the little black teddy, to admire a fine patch of cowslips, and they settled down beside the flowers to enjoy the sunshine. Algy opened his battered book of verse by Longfellow, and started to read to his wee friend:

    When the warm sun, that brings
Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,
‘Tis sweet to visit the still wood, where springs
    The first flower of the plain.

    I love the season well,
When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,
Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell
    The coming-on of storms.

    From the earth’s loosened mould
The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives;
Though stricken to the heart with winter’s cold,
    The drooping tree revives.

    The softly-warbled song
Comes from the pleasant woods, and colored wings
Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves along
    The forest openings.

[Algy is reading the opening stanzas of An April Day, a very early poem by the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.]

A fluffy spring tribute to photosworthseeing’ “No Edit Friday” 🙂

When Algy woke up on Sunday morning, the weather had changed. It was still very chilly, but the wind was calmer, the sky was brighter, and – in between fast-moving showers of rain and sleet – the sun shone. Algy picked up his volume of Longfellow’s poems and looked for the least-sodden spot he could find. No part of the ground was actually dry, but he discovered a bank of budding daffodils that was only moderately wet. So, resigned to the prospect of damp tail feathers, he settled down happily in the sunshine, and started to read The Song of Hiawatha to his friend from Germany, the little black teddy:

           Should you ask me, whence these stories?
           Whence these legends and traditions,
           With the odours of the forest
           With the dew and damp of meadows,
           With the curling smoke of wigwams,
           With the rushing of great rivers,
          
With their frequent repetitions,
          
And their wild reverberations
          
As of thunder in the mountains?
           I should answer, I should tell you,
          
“From the forests and the prairies,
          
From the great lakes of the Northland,
          
From the land of the Ojibways,
          
From the land of the Dacotahs,
          
From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands
          
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
          
Feeds among the reeds and rushes.
          
I repeat them as I heard them
          
From the lips of Nawadaha,
          
The musician, the sweet singer.”

Algy hopes that you will all have a bright and peaceful Sunday xoxo

[ Algy is of course reading the opening lines of the long narrative poem The Song of Hiawatha by the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. ]

After a few days of bright but chilly sunshine, the sky clouded over and became exceedingly grey. The air felt icy, and it looked as though it might snow again at any moment. Algy and his new friend, little black Teddy, were sitting at the edge of the peat bog, surveying the desolate scene. Teddy was wondering whether he might not be better off back in Germany with his kind friend snirg-fundstuecke, but Algy explained that the West Highlands were not always this bleak; in due course, all the browns and blacks and greys would turn to greens, and by June the whole peat bog would be covered with the pretty, fluffy seedheads of the cotton grass, blowing gently in the breeze…

The first day of February brought a welcome and long overdue change in the weather. The gales had finally blown so fiercely from the north that they had chased most of the clouds away. The arctic wind was still bitter, and the shadows were long and cold, but at last the land was bathed in light and colour again.

The winds had also brought a wonderful new friend to stay with Algy. A little black teddy with a fluffy middle, sent by Algy’s lovely friend snirg-fundstuecke, had travelled all the way from Germany in order to see the world. So when the sun came out, Algy lost no time in showing his new friend some of the beautiful views around his home.

Algy hopes that the new month will bring some sunshine to you all, and perhaps even a lovely new friend :)) xoxo