The colours and shapes of autumn at home are comfort and joy! And whether speaking of the ‘island’ of home, heart, soul, mind, body or nation W H Auden issues apt seasonal invitation:
Look, stranger, on this island now
The leaping light for your delight discovers,
Stand stable here
And silent be,
That through the channels of the ear
May wander like a river
The swaying sound of the sea.Here at the small field’s ending pause
When the chalk wall falls to the foam and its tall ledges
Oppose the pluckW H Auden
On this Island
Isn’t it a lovely thought that you might, perhaps, tonight, ‘stand stable’ at home for a space? – there to take stock of ‘the leaping light for your delight’ … a reflection in a treasured piece of jewellery, firelight, the warm glow from evening light on bookshelves or coffee table, a child’s framed painting, steam rising from a coffee cup, a jar of lentils, the fluid movement of a houseplant touched by slight draught. All in and around your own personal island …