He stood there in the card shop finding it hard to decide between a Chinese rose, a flock of starlings, a river scene in summer . . .
They all had printed blank inside upon their cellophane wrappers.
He felt blank inside when it came to words.
How do you say (after twenty-six years) I love you, with that tremor and thrill he remembered when, stopping the car between Holt and the sea, he had looked into those still jade green eyes, and told her so.
So he choose Tropical Birds in a Landscape Jan van Kessel the Elder (1628-79).
It was Chaucerβs Technicolor Dream. Β A Parliament of Fowles no less who *welcome somer, with your sonne softe, Wel han they cause for to gladen ofte, Sith ech of hem recovered hath hys make Ful blissful mowe they synge when they awake.