My darling,

I have seen a thousand sunsets, on land where it forests and mountains with honey coloured light, at sea where it rises and sets like a blood orange in a multicoloured nest of cloud, slipping in and out of the vastocean.

I have seen a thousand moons: harvest moons like gold coins, winter moons as white as ice chips, new moons like baby swans' feathers.

I have seen seas as smooth as if painted, coloured like shot slik or blue as a kingfisher or transprent as glass or black and crumpled with foam, moving ponderously and murderously.

I have felt winds straight from the South Pole, black and wailing like a lost child.

I have seen Whales, black as tar,cushioned on a cornflower blue sea, creating a Versailles of fountain with their breath.

I have lain in warm as milk, soft as silk, while aroud me a host of dolphins.

I have met a thousand animals and seen a thousand wonderful things...

But––

All this i did without you. This was my loss.

All this i want to do with you.This will be my gain.

All this i would gladly have forgone for the sake of one minute of your company.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? for your laugh,

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? your voice,

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? your eyes,

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? hair,

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? lips,

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? body,

and...

and above all for your sweet,

even surprising mind which is an enchanting quarry in which it? is my privilege to delve.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Gerald Durell