It was a cold spring morning ...

It was a cold spring morning, and the small trees lay there still asleep, their tremulous branches covered in small sprinkles of silver frost. The early rising sun made everything shine with beauty and awoke Roger from a long dream.

He looked up to notice that the bright stars had left the sky and he concluded that the night was over. He felt very perspicacious at noticing this and decided he was in the mood for a wander in the woods.

Roger headed towards the thin stream that was flowing along the snow-drop covered banks, and the birds sang as they flitted between the tall tree trunks. As he got nearer, he felt apprehension amounting in him, but not in an unpleasant way, beacause he knew he would find her there.
Then, in the distance, the sun reached through the trees, producing long streams of golden light and a beautiful silhouette could be seen in the distance.

And a young fawn stared back into Roger's eyes, which seemed to be overflowing with wonder. He was fascinated by her her dark eyes and her soft brown fur, covered with white marks.

"I always thought it too distant a dream to ever behold her again," Roger thought, "but now I realise that we can never be torn apart."

And they were the two most beautiful fawns that ever lived, as eternity seemed to cover them with the blossom of spring.

A night in a gale

Nightingale, Full Moon and Plum-blossom - Uchiwa Shape

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
- Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats

The hot summer night filled the room and bore heavily upon my bare thin back. I was lying in bed and I could hear the gusting wind beating against the shutters of the open window, whereby the moon's silver light was cast through.
I was trying to sleep, but I was only half dozing, as the rattling noise kept me awake. Thus, my mind had drifted into that state where you are still conscious that your dreams are only part of your imagination and not reality.

Then a small nightingale quietly crept in. I lay there unmoved, but the feathered creature intrigued me greatly. It's coat was covered with brown and grey feathers which shone beneath the moonlight. And they were slightly untidy, probably due to the wind blowing outdoors.

The nightingale seemed perfectly content resting on the window-sill, while I couldn't help but wonder: which between man or nightingale is most appropriate to start a conversation?

Through the looking glass and what Roger found there

"Well, 'slithy' means `lithe and slimy.' `Lithe' is the same as `active.' You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed up into one word." (Humpty Dumpty explaining the meaning of a portmanteau to Alice, Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there - Lewis Carroll)


Little did the 8 year old Roger know of portmanteaus. He had however created one himself, and he was rather fond of it. It fitted perfectly into his mind of adventures.

"Let's go on an exploriance!" he would exclaim early on a sunny morning.

Roger would then take jacket and hat and embark on his exploriance. He would put the word this way: "to undergo an experience whilst exploring." On these pleasant jaunts the young boy would spend the day running across meadows and climbing up trees: he loved the wide green expanses of the Yorkshire Dales and feeling the strong breeze rush across his skin.

Chasing clouds, racing alongside streams and jumping into cow pats in his wellington boots: it was all Roger dreamt of doing from dawn till dusk.

An attempt to pathetic fallacy - pathetic as in empathy

J. W. M. Turner. Snow Storm: Steamboat at a Harbour's Mouth

Tumultuous winds were blowing outside, and although I was indoors, supposedly safe from any harm, I hardly felt safe sitting by the fireplace. I could hear the wind howling it's way down the chimney and dancing with the red flames in the fireplace below. I stared at them in fear, as if hypnotized, whilst rang in my ears the banging of the wind against the window panes. And all the while, the light in the room was continuously flickering.

Could the frail roof of my country cottage stand the weight of such a storm? I hoped so, because it happened I was beneath it.

I then fell into a state of dizziness, as a snow storm was being stirred up amongst the winds and dark clouds. And suddenly I found myself engulfed in the raging storm, but no sound came to me, just complete silence. I was high above the ground, high above my small cottage, however I felt safe with the wind whirling around me, and from there I could seize the whole beauty of the scene.

And then the storm withered away and I awoke in my armchair. The remaining embers of the fire lay glowing in the hearth, providing the only light in the room other than the awakening sun, lighting up the small room with dawn. And looking through the window, I saw the usual sight of green hills and elm trees covered in a golden light.

Thoughts on idleness

"I sometimes hate myself for my idle ways. But I am an idle person after all."

People - whether they have an idle nature or quite the contrary - generally cannot stand idleness in the manners of another. I do tend to take quite a lot of criticism for that matter, contempt is a nasty thing when seen in the eye of another who dares not express his feelings.

"It gives you a sense of importance and of superiority proving yourself to be busy, don't you find Helena?"

Roger and his friend were sitting in the dim lit living room of his Victorian flat, the only light being provided by a small lamp. But Helena wasn't paying much attention to Roger's thoughts on idleness.

"Is idleness a sin Helena? I hope not."

People tell me I have an idle expression, why so? I work hard - in my own idle way - but I do things which are to be done and leave aside what isn't necessary. I think people create such necessities as they aren't satisfied with their own spare time and feel jealousy to those quite content with doing nothing. However, I feel I shouldn't believe a word I have said, they are just the result of my idle thoughts misleading me into idleness.