.. . i think it was the enjoyment of hearing other recollections and reminiscences which gave me the confidence to take up pencil  as it was then  and as at other times  just write   ◉  i suppose the eve of sarah s birthday had crystallised the idea for me  ◉  after savouring the delights of marrio s pizza house  we continued the birthday treat by going on with her and friend abigail to see the film  out of africa  ◉  the film unfurled the tale of karen von blixen  whose subdued and plaintiff memories were gently nursed into the fibre of the film in the sultry tones of meryl streep  speaking with a broken danish dialect ◉ listening to the natural poetic thoughts of a  kindred spirit  her observations were to me like silhouettes of tree branches in the early evening dusk offset against a subtle but brilliant sunset background  ◉  i was as much inspired by these thoughts  as by the accompanying panoramas from which my simile is no doubt borrowed  ◉  huge expanses of african landscape grew on cinema canvas before us   as we sat plying pieces of peanut from our teeth and licking payne s poppet chocolate from our fingers  ◉  i was sure they were the ones which would not melt in your hands ◉ i do not know how many times i had set out on this holy purpose  ◉ to write carefully and meaningfully the thoughts one feels but rarely speaks    ◉  the stream bubbles and splashes and is exhilliarating to view but only the delicate spray on your face confirms the viewers presence  ◉  only the sense of joy  the heat of summer sun on the nape of your neck  and the cool of the breeze dusting your hands  feet  legs  truly says  i am alive  ◉  if all the prefaces of these many  classics  that i have begun  were condensed then surely i could have saved myself the trouble and said simply i begin  ◉  i begin  ◉  and if ones appreciation  or is it awareness of life is our highest pinnacle then we should grasp it  hold it. and never let it go  ◉  and then there is the reason we should learn to read  to write  to understand  to stand and admire  so we may speak and write and recount our pleasure  ◉  hoping that by recounting we may draw gently the outline of an idea in someone else’s experience  ◉  or need we pull the trigger  or strike the blow  ◉   and if these balms  medicines  enemas  help rid us the evil of civilisations myopia then the circle will  be completed    ◉  and we will stand naked  still  and alone as the native who never saw a pencil or a pen but has understood that he is alive and part of some breathtaking epic  some intriguing tale   ◉  and jesus wept