Algy moved to the back of the strange little inlet and perched on a rock, wondering how bad tomorrow’s storm would be. As there is already an amber warning for a severe gale on Thursday night (sustained windspeeds up to 50 mph with gusts of 80 mph) it is likely that Algy’s assistants will lose power, and Algy will be cut off from his Tumblr friends for a while. Such is life in the darker months in the wild west Highlands of Scotland 😦 And it gets very dark indeed when the power goes out in a remote area on a wild night in November!

But if that does happen, you can be sure that Algy will be back as soon as he can 🙂 In the meantime he leaves you with this poem by Rita Dove. “Sail, wind, with your cargo of zithers!”

Snow would be the easy
way out—that softening
sky like a sigh of relief
at finally being allowed
to yield. No dice.
We stack twigs for burning
in glistening patches
but the rain won’t give.

So we wait, breeding
mood, making music
of decline. We sit down
in the smell of the past
and rise in a light
that is already leaving.
We ache in secret,
memorizing

a gloomy line
or two of German.
When spring comes
we promise to act
the fool. Pour,
rain! Sail, wind,
with your cargo of zithers!

[Algy is quoting the poem November for Beginners by the contemporary American poet Rita Dove.]

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