Autumn loss & memories (Written by G MacLEMAN @ the end of 2002 & the start of 2003) Slanted sunlight bright beneath a dark cloud sky, the seabirds fly; to hear the waves that break upon a distant shore and see the plains stretched for miles from so far away: On a day when autumn leaves were dancing down the road in wind which warned of winter frost, and buoyed them chill, about, about, swirling through the air: Merlin climbed the castle stair, up to the battlements; upon the watchtower he did gaze across the western seas, a grey and endless sea: Across the waves, to where the sea fills caves with frothy foam, he seemed to gaze, half in a daze, across the ruffled sea to where once was his home, he too seemed to hear the waves that break upon that distant shore; a shore of futures, a shore of days long gone: Ah. If I had known then how soon he would be gone I should have spoken more and would have listened……..