As I stand on the cliff-top looking west my thoughts dissolve, and for a moment I’m really there, held in a timeless paradise. Below, the rugged ground descends into a broad glen covered with bushes and trees. To my left a sheer drop to the sparkling blue ocean with its tiny distant waves lapping and foaming along the shore. On the far side of the glen another cliff, another view, another paradise.
       Gulls swoop and glide above my head. Across the glen they go then back again, screeching joyfully as they plummet and soar, coasting upwards, proud and triumphant, relishing each precious instant in private celebration. An hour from now it will be the same, and tomorrow, and next year, as it has been for aeons. Suspended in perpetual glory, agile, graceful, diving, climbing, floating, circling, endlessly dancing to some eternal secret tune.
       I gaze down through quivering tufts of grass clinging stubbornly to the cliff face, and there below I see the many-coloured boulders, rocks and fine scree upon which the waves are breaking: yellows, browns and pinks – and do I see orange too?

       The moment passes; my dreary thoughts return. Tomorrow I’ll be in the city, jostled in crowds, gasping in fumes, assaulted by noise, bored by tedious work. Shall I remember the gulls? Shall I remember my moment in paradise?
       I look up once more. The gulls still hover above my head and drift silently now across the lush, thick glen. One of these splendid birds floats down and lands on a nearby post; leaning his head to one side, he stares towards me. His feathers ruffle in the warm breeze. I feel he is trying to tell me something. It is something important, he seems to say, but there is no hurry, you’ll find out... you’ll find out sooner or later. He opens his wings and rises, slowly, effortlessly, still looking at me, now with sorrow, now with joy, and he is gone. Across the glen he goes. Up high he mingles with his kin and I lose sight of him, my momentary friend; I shall not forget you with your kind eyes, your great wisdom, your elusive message.
       Yes, I'll find out.