Cloud-compelling Zeus
Aha, I have been importuning the wrong gods. It is Zeus who compels the clouds and gives us rain, which...
Cormorant-haunted castle
An abandoned fortress, occupied only by cormorants. No wonder, the human inhabitants probably fled an atmosphere described as the 'architecture...
One for the microbe
A charming variant of 'one for the road' justifications for one more drink. May you enjoy all the optimism, vigour...
The astonishing sound of Magyar
Having just returned from Budapest, I was happy to rediscover this galloping description of the way it can sound to...
Shrivel-cheeked hermits
May you be spared all shrivelling. Why do words of similar sound have something mean-spirited in them: shrivelling, snivelling, grovelling,...
Dust-clogged hair
As Leigh Fermor prepares to set off through Mani in the Peloponnese, he is given several such 'there be dragons'...
On memorizing poetry
A few years ago I wrote this piece on memorising poetry. For World Poetry Day, I share it here in the hope it will...
Good-tempered ears
Describing an idyllic ride on a wonderful horse. I wish you many moments, and even days and weeks, of which...
Weather-fretted Abbots
Assuming these are carved in stone, though my first reading had me picturing a human 'weather-fretted' abbot.
Wishing you more...
Rough-hewn peninsulars
A rugged description of all-enduring peasants who survive in a brutal landscape.
'The three young fruiterers ... seemed queerly townish...
How clever can you get?
I liked these piled up and shamelessly outrageous examples of cleverness, although of their various skills, the first is the...
Troy-bound villagers
In this triologism, Leigh Fermor effortlessly conveys the millennia-spanning history of an obscure village, implying that its inhabitants might be...
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